I. Introduction
Good day to you all! Today, I will be speaking on a very interesting topic: Are You Willing to Die for Jesus? Would you be willing to die for Jesus Christ? Some may say, Teacher, I need to go back and think about it. And I would say, What is there to think about? And they might say, I have to go back and ask my mum. Such are the mummy's boys. If you say you have to go back and ask your dad, that is daddy's boy; I have to go back and ask my wife, that is wife's boy; I have to go back and ask my husband, that is husband's boy; I have to go back and ask my children, that is children’s boy. So many treasures, but unwilling to be a treasure of Jesus. Starting this week, we will begin the series on wisdom and understanding, and you will find that I will continuously push everyone towards wisdom and understanding. Those without wisdom will now have wisdom, and the foolish will become clever.
Knowing God and understanding the truth is key. If a person does not know God through understanding and truth, they will either be led astray by demons or be busy driving demons out. If a person does not know God through understanding, it is very dangerous; they surely will be led astray. Therefore, encountering a foolish person is akin to eating a dung beetle – a very strong taste indeed. If a person knows they are foolish, knows they are ignorant, then there is still a chance. But a person who is foolish yet unaware – still thinking they are powerful, clever, and beautiful – that is a complete lost cause! So, do you know how I make my judgments? You must realise that once a person acknowledges that they are clever, formidable, and then I say they are foolish, surely there will be conflict? There will surely be conflict. So, what to do? Nothing can be done. Later, to avoid conflict, I just stopped trying to correct them. If I do not, God will, and lies will enter into them, constantly festering.
How can the topic Are You Willing to Die for Jesus? possibly be linked to wisdom and understanding? I tell you, without wisdom and understanding, it is impossible to make a willing choice. Is that not a knee-jerk reaction? What can one expect from a knee-jerk reaction? Only a soft-boiled brain. So, how can a person make such a choice without wisdom and understanding? Even if one makes the choice, without understanding, it is merely shouting a slogan. How many people have shouted grand slogans before? Where have those who shouted slogans gone? Some say, I am a person of Mingding Destiny, and I want to have Mingding Destiny; those without Mingding Destiny are merely beasts! And then nothing. Then they tell me, Teacher, I want to go to a church with Mingding Destiny. I congratulate you and may God bless you! Shouting slogans is easy, but when the time comes, they are unwilling, and a bit of opposition and they are finished. Some say, Teacher, even if you beat me to death, I will not leave! Useless, what can be done with a fool?
If I treat you well, you do not know it; if I deceive you, you think that is good for you; if I want to build you up, you think I am trying to harm you. How can you walk this path? As soon as they speak, I know they think I am trying to harm them. I tell you, I have never taken a shoelace or a thread from anyone. I do not take. Even when I visit you, I do not take. I hate this the most. Why? Because in life one must know what wisdom and cleverness are. How one lives is the result of a series of choices. Look at how you are living today. Oh, living in such pain! And you still think you are clever? How can that be good? Foolish people always choose wrongly, and in the end, they live out a tragedy. Some treat deceivers as beautiful love. Is that not deadly? Each time they make a wrong choice, they think they have made the cleverest choice. Later, they prove themselves wrong, and then they pass the blame to me, pass the blame to others. If they cannot pass the blame anywhere else, in the end, it is the fault of the sun, the moon, and the stars. And they tell me, Teacher, this is what you told me to choose. Therefore, pastoring foolish people is a huge risk!
Let me say a little about management philosophy today. Some are popular, and some are not. The more popular ones involve keeping people ignorant in order to manage them. The most representative example is the Legalist reforms of Shang Yang. Have you read The Book of Lord Shang? It is about making people ignorant in order to manage them. Actually, he is correct. Do you know why he is correct? Can you change foolish people? Thus, one makes them even more foolish so that they are easier to control. I tell you, being a government official is very difficult, managing a country is very difficult. Why? Because they have no choice. If you run a business, you can bring in clever people. But if you manage a country, what can you do? You cannot kill all the foolish people, can you? So, you have to manage in this way, because making people foolish makes them easier to manage, and you can deceive them. If you are in marketing, can you do without deception? So, this is called management. Many businesses, organisations, and churches do this. This is correct; do not think this is wrong. If you think you still have to use the love of Jesus Christ to manage, that is surely troublesome. You cannot manage that way.
Moses did the same in the wilderness. Moses shouted in the wilderness, Pack up! and everyone packed their gear. Then Moses said, Move! Everyone move forward. If you do not move, I will whip you! So bothersome. Even if there were children with fever or illness at home, nobody cared. That is how the Israelites in the wilderness were organised, and that was correct. If one reached a place with water, there was no resting; if one reached a place without water, one had to camp. I ask you, if you were one of those people, could you understand? You could not understand, because you were so foolish. How could you possibly understand? That is how people were managed. If I ran a business, I would do the same. Do not tell me I do not have the love of Jesus Christ. This is called love! So, they did it this way. This is the most popular way. Do you think I do not know this stuff? I specialise in studying this.
But building God's church, pastoring God's flock, involves picking out treasures from this world. What to do? One has to choose the unpopular management philosophy. That unpopular management philosophy is to make people clever, to make people wise, so they are not deceived by lying spirits. Do you all understand now? Do you see how difficult this work is? Just look at that face – clearly a thin-fate ghost. How difficult it is to make them clever! If you make them clever, they bite you and think you are trying to harm them. Difficult! If I say, Wow, sister, you are so clever, so beautiful! Is that good? That is making people foolish, that is foolishness! And then the sister happily says, Wow, the pastor praised me for being clever. Oops, heard the wrong way! How can you be so foolish, so silly? Finished! She is at war with me, arguing with me, debating with me. I say, What are you arguing about? She says, I am not arguing. Still arguing. Alas, making people clever is so difficult! I have been dealing with my flesh, because I really hate this stuff. But thankfully, thank God! He lets me do this pastoral work to the fullest.
You must know that if you make people clever, they will hate you, and think that you are trying to harm them, or think I am doing PUA on them. Is that not deadly? Some people really come to me and say, Teacher, you often PUA us. How can people be so foolish? You must know that even if they swear they will never leave, it is useless, because you have not removed their foolishness, and their judgments are all distorted. The person who loves you, you think they hate you; and the person who harms you, you think they love you. Everything is backwards, upside down. How dangerous! Later, I have to say, Ah, this person has to be shepherded this way. How to shepherd? I tell you all, just shepherd them away! When everyone finally shepherded them away, I say, Open the champagne! Do you know what logic that is? But that champagne tastes bitter, worrying! Worrying that if they are not changed, they will go out and be deceived again.
In the past, those who came to the church had their money swindled time and time again. Finally, they came to the church, finally lived a decent life after being poor and down, and now it is all gone! You might ask, Is it like that? Can you give some examples? But when I give examples, please do not jump to conclusions. Some people say, Teacher, I trust my pastor the most. Foolish! I trust our pastor the most. Foolish! If he is a man today and a demon tomorrow, what will you do then? Everyone has demons. They say, Ah, the church should be a holy church. Are all churches holy? Nonsense! Everyone is carrying demons. Which one of those who come in and are molded is not a carnal person? When has somebody has come in without demons? Some people say, Then how can you list him as a pastor? Because there are no holy ones. However, I think God is truly marvelous.
Do not be foolish, and do not blame others; only blame our foolishness. What can I say? From beginning to end, I have been saying this for more than ten years. Later, I missed a small section and forgot to say it, and then it was over! I said, Do not believe me; examine me carefully. Have I said this? Yes. I have said this often. If your little pastor says, You must believe me. Oops, the demon has come! You do not know which day I am a demon. Maybe one day I will be short of money, and the demon will enter, loving money, and then I will ask you to borrow money. Today, I am giving you a heads-up. Do not lend me any money, because I do not have the habit of borrowing money from people. Everyone must understand: first, I do not ask people for favors; second, I do not borrow money from people. If things can be done, then they are done; if they cannot be done, then forget it. If there is noodles for ten dollars a bowl, there is also five dollars a bowl, or three dollar for instant noodles, I will not starve. It is the same with pastors. Are there any pastors among us who ask you for favors? Do not do them!
Someone says, I married him because you told me to marry him! I do not do such things. If you want to marry, then marry him; if you do not want to marry, then do not marry him. You say, The divorce was because you told me to divorce. The pregnancy was because you told me to get pregnant. Can I make you pregnant? I cannot, that would be a joke. That is something you and your husband did together. You say, The investment was because you told me to invest. The job was because you told me to find the job. All these things. What are you doing? Very obedient to the pastor, believing in us, right? You say, The house was because you told me to buy it. The offering was because you told me to give it. Later, I invented: You do not have the qualification to give an offering. If you do not understand the meaning of giving an offering, then forget it!
You say, The child's education was because you taught me to teach this way. You did not learn it, and you messed up, and I have not even blamed you yet. You say, Attending the meeting was because you told me to attend. When did I tell you to attend the meeting? There are even more detestable people who say, Forsaking my parents was because you told me to forsake them. Is my forsaking the same as your forsaking? Alas, the mistakes are all from me, and the correct things are all from you. You say, This investment was because you told me to invest. Do you think it is difficult to be a pastor? It is okay, you having an abortion was not because I told you to have one, you going to the hospital was not because I told you to go, your not going to the hospital was not because I told you not to go. The pastors among us must hear clearly: do not do these things, otherwise they are troublesome!
Is it difficult to pastor foolish people? It is difficult! If I were not a pastor building God's church, I would run as far away as possible from foolish people. I would quickly disappear myself. How can people who cannot understand human words possibly understand God's words? Fortunately, until now there is God's mercy. I let you work, do honest work, and earn some money, and no one has blamed me yet. If I let someone work, and they commit suicide in their workplace, that is troublesome. People will say I told them to do the work. There was a person whose mother was ninety years old, worrying about her child, and said to her child, Go to work. As a result, he got high blood pressure. His mother said, Why do you have high blood pressure? Your father and I are so old, and we do not have this illness. He said, It is because you forced me to work that I got high blood pressure. I really wanted to punch him!
A person's life is a series of choices. If you do not have your own fierce operation, no one's advice is useful. Going to work is not me going, it is you going; marrying your husband is you marrying him, it is not me forcing you with a knife. What is the use of giving you advice? Without wisdom and understanding, it is a tragedy! The money in your account, the password is what you pressed, not the bank pressing it for you, and not me pressing it for you. Is someone holding a knife to your neck and making you press it? No. After a fierce operation, in the end, you are a fool. People do not know that foolishness and ignorance are revealed between the lines. When relationships are close, it is easy to hurt them by these words; when relationships are not close, you really cannot say it. I have been controlling myself again and again, it is not good to say, I can only skim the surface. If you understand, then you understand; if you do not understand, then forget it. If you think you are not bad, then let us forget it!
Now I will talk about the most important choice, not work and not investment. Are you willing to die for Jesus Christ? God does not ask ordinary people this question; ordinary people do not hear it. If God says, Lot, are you willing to die for me? Forget it, he would rather die for Sodom. God does not ask ordinary people this question. But if you really hear God asking you this question, then you are worthy. That is the most important choice in a person's life, and it is the wisest choice in a person's life! Do you all know this today? This choice is what I want to talk about today. But in the process of communicating and understanding with everyone, when I encounter those foolish people, ignorant people, sometimes you really have to be especially careful when speaking. How can one say, Are you willing to die for me? I do not have the qualification, ah? If I give you some benefits, you still hate me. If I let you die for me, that is trouble!
Many brothers and sisters do not know how I see you, and you do not know how God sees you. You only care about yourselves, and the more you look at yourselves, the more beautiful you become. That beauty! Only knowing yourselves as clever and beautiful, I tell you, Satan thinks he is very clever, thinks he is very beautiful, thinks he can sit on the same level with God. That is self-satisfaction! The Bible says: Out of a thousand women, there is not one good one. Because out of a thousand, there are a thousand who are self-intoxicated, and feel super good about themselves. Even when they are deceived, they are deceived with eternal hope. I am saying this as a joke. Then let us just live like this, and it is your fate to live in pain!
In my midlife crisis, I lost my job. You must know that at that time, I did not want to be a full-time pastor. In my eyes, the full-time pastors I saw were a bit troubling. Everyone slowly understand the term that I use. Fortunately, I started building the church two years before that, while working and building the church, keeping the Lord's Day and bible study. As a result, I got a midlife crisis. Whose fault? I did not care, I only cared about whether I was foolish in any place. I checked, finished! I was not building the church according to God's words. I used roast chicken, roast duck, ham sausage, and braised beef to attract people to come. As a result, I attracted flies and mosquitoes.
Actually, my thoughts at that time were foolish, foolish to the point of death! I felt that if I told people about Jesus like this, would they come? Until today, people still have this idea, and until today, there are still many pastors doing this. Of course, they cannot afford roast chicken, roast duck, and braised beef, so they give out lunch boxes. What a lunch box attracts is also little flies and little mosquitoes. At that time, I was unemployed and very confused, because there were not many people who were in the same position as me in Singapore. Should I be a pastor or not? Once, someone invited me to attend a special meeting, so I went to relax, and I took the plane and went.
Actually, I do not particularly enjoy attending special events or bustling crowds. I prefer to sit quietly, listen, flip through the Bible, pray a little, and perhaps even doze off. It was during one such moment that I heard a voice: Are you willing to die for me? I knew very clearly that it was God asking me this question. I felt the voice penetrate with incredible clarity. I told God, God, I am willing! It felt like receiving a precious treasure, something I had been waiting a long time for. Are you willing to die for me? I responded that I had never had the opportunity, and how could there be one now? When? During my mid-life crisis. I said, God, I am willing to die for You. From that moment on, I made a decision: to serve God!
If you have ever listened to my Bible studies or sermons, you will often hear this sentiment. Why? Because I want to die for God! If there is an opportunity to be martyred for the Lord, that would be the best. The ticket is immediately secured, no more assessments or KPIs needed. Whether one is holy or not, it would not matter; martyrdom would be the best. Before I came to faith, this was how I understood it—a wisdom of enlightenment. You must know that I have been studying the Bible for many years. I have said that Isaac was so clever. The wisdom of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph is all in Genesis—simply amazing! When I was young and reading the Bible, I thought Abraham and Isaac were incredibly intelligent. I thank God that because I answered correctly, God is with me. You must know that God being with me is super special, not something you can exchange for any amount of gold. It has become a blessing to many.
Yesterday, we had dinner together, and I counted the blessings of God. There was someone with back pain who had spent a lot of money without relief. He came to me, and poof! He was healed. Kidney stones? Gone! Congenital heart disease? Five hours of prayer, and he was healed. Later, it recurred, but one hour of prayer, and he was healed again! Tears welled up in my eyes. What merit do I have to receive such grace? A person makes one smart choice in their life. There were also cases of depression and inability to graduate, all healed, thanks to God! Imagine not being able to graduate with a doctorate, but prayer makes it possible. Can you understand that? Soon, many who cannot graduate with their doctorates might come. It works! God! Why? Because I am willing to die for God, and God is with me. How amazing is that!
There was a person who had been brainwashed and controlled by another church. Their mind was filled with filth. When they came among us, they vomited profusely. Another person, who was not yet a believer, had teeth that seemed welded shut, unable to open their mouth, and they could only consume liquids through a straw. I said, You are fortunate to have met me! Eventually, they were healed, without surgery or spending any money. All this is because I made a very smart choice back then, because I knew that having God with me is infinitely good. Today, we are talking about this wisdom. They had the opportunity to meet me and later became my fellow workers. I hope they share the same conviction as me, willing to offer themselves up and make the same choice, willing to die for God, emulating the choices of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. However, those who come later, I really cannot handle them all. Some people just say, Teacher, can you pray for me? There are too many such requests; I cannot handle them. Those people came early, joining the queue at the front. Now, the queue is very long. Thank God! Remember, if you are willing to make the same choice as me, then you will receive it! Do not worship masters; it is useless.
II. Scripture
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death. (Hebrews 11:17-19)
III. Prayer
God, may we all emulate Abraham, having no core interests within us except You. You are our core interest. God, grant us this wisdom and intelligence today, and let Your words be engraved on our hearts. May the choices we make be like the choices made by Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, so that we may live for You and feel like we have received our lives back from death. Give us wisdom and intelligence today, so that we may be willing to offer ourselves as living sacrifices, so that we may all receive Your mighty resurrection power. God, have mercy on us, give us wisdom and intelligence, so that we may come out of ignorance, foolishness, and arrogance. And You will surely make our descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. This is my choice, this is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!
IV. Scriptural Background
Hebrews helps people to understand faith intellectually, the faith of Abraham, allowing people to intellectually recognize God, and recognize salvation. Therefore, Hebrews Chapter 11 deals with the logic of faith, and uses examples to elaborate. This is the author's logic in choosing, and it signifies wisdom and intelligence. Hence, every figure cited within Hebrews Chapter 11 is worthy of our deep study, enough for us to operate on and each example is an instance of faith. Thus, the entire Bible chronicles two types of people: those who believe, and those who do not.
If God were to ask me, Are you willing to die for me? and I ask What for?, if you don't understand, you would be ruined. He wants to be kind to me, understand? I believe that God is a good God, and so I know choosing Him is incredibly good! But some people do not believe in God, those people are so strange. So in Hebrews, it talks about belief and unbelief; chapter 11 talks about those who believe, and the other chapters talk about unbelief. God wants to be kind to us. And if you still have not heard these words, it is because you are not qualified yet. Let's start from first grade onwards. What does God want to do? God wants to show kindness to us. Do you have this kind of faith? If you don't have it, then that's bad. What? Are you trying to cut off my source of wealth? Do you want my life? What are you doing? I still have my elderly mother at home. Besides my elderly mother, I also have my old hen. The old hen still lays eggs. If you take my life, I won't be able to eat eggs anymore. Alas! That is because of unbelief. Regardless of the elderly mother or the old hen, they are just making excuses, that is just unbelief, not knowing whether this is good or bad. The wicked are those who cannot discern good from bad.
God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, yet they said, God, You want to destroy us! I was thinking, what kind of brain is this? How stupid can they be? Can everyone understand? Even to this day, I do not understand, because God inflicted plagues on Pharaoh in Egypt, then plundered the wealth of the Egyptians and gave it to the Israelites, and then they came out of Egypt. Think about it, how can unarmed civilians fight against an army armed with the most advanced weapons in Egypt? How can you come out? If they do not allow you to come out, digging a pit and machine-gunning you is possible. After they came out, it was interesting, and they said, God, You want to kill us!
Until today, there are still such members, and I have met so many members over the past years. Alas, that pain, I was not used to it at first, but I am used to it now, with thick skin, invulnerable to swords and spears, but I still feel sorry for them. Why? How did they go down the road of corruption again? Haven't they had enough suffering, haven't they suffered enough sins? What brain? I was so angry, stupid, annoying! These Israelites walked to the Red Sea, and Egyptian soldiers came again, and the Israelites thought, are there no graves in Egypt? What kind of brain is that? Everyone, write this sentence down in your notes: What kind of brain is that? And also look at yourself, what kind of brain do you have? Someone told me: Teacher, I called you several times and you didn't answer, so I won't call anymore. I said, what kind of brain is that? If I hadn't answered, he would have died long ago. I said to him: Your sentence is stupid. He said: Not stupid; I said: This sentence is still foolish. He said: Not stupid; Oh my God!
Why do people leave after experiencing so much grace? It is precisely this kind of brain, thinking that I am blocking people's path to wealth, like killing one's parents. Brothers and sisters, be careful, you must not cut off other people's path to wealth, people will think you are murdering their parents, So I never do this. This sentence has a source, everyone can search online, I won't talk too much about it here. A person is planned, and then there is a path to wealth, I hinder people, isn't that cutting off people's path to wealth is like killing one's parents? Isn't that so? Some of us have been deceived, just that brain, everyone who is deceived does not think of that as a chance, can not stop it! I said: You try to withdraw one dollar. He said: No, waiting for appreciation, it will be good to withdraw ten thousand in the future. Is there such a thing? That silly appearance is so tiring to watch!
So today we're talking about the incident where God asked Abraham to offer Isaac. We learn from this same Abraham. What is the background of this passage? It is these people who built the church after Jesus Christ who took out the story in Genesis to speak. We have told a series of stories about faith, and today we will pick this story about Abraham offering Isaac to talk about. What is the logic in Abraham offering Isaac? Why did he offer him? What is the logic of Isaac? Why did he offer himself? Isaac offered himself, and Abraham offered his son. Because these people were amazing people, because these people were looking for the same homeland, a better homeland, seeking eternal life. So they had no selfish motives. If you have selfish motives, you want to plan to become bigger and stronger, thinking, my company has to go public, and my son has to take over the business after I die. You say, what can we do? Cannot do it! So we have to understand Abraham's logic and Isaac's logic; we are going to talk about this today, they are seeking a better homeland.
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:13-16)
Understand? That's how it is. When a person has their own selfish motives, they are ruined. Abraham did not have his own selfish motives. Abraham chose God's plan. Today, we are learning this. We are dying for Jesus Christ. Everyone must understand this logic. I have to tell you why I chose to be willing to die for Jesus Christ back then. Because I had logic inside me. Without logic, would I be an idiot? Many of us here lack logic, and we mess things up blindly because we don't know. Today, we must build up this logic.
V. The logic of dying for Jesus Christ (1): All men must die
If all men must die, how is this resolved? There are two ways to fix it: first, when people are living, they eat good food as soon as possible, and they drink the best liquor, and they die without eating it. If you want to eat good food and drink good liquor, it is one thing, and whether you can eat it or not is another. Isn’t it? Even now there are many who are deceived, owing money, owing debt. All men must die, this is a logical system. As far as I am concerned, I die one day earlier or one day later, the same thing, this makes no difference. Because every day is the same, enough food, enough sleep, every day is working, all is vanity and chasing after the wind. I was waiting there, waiting for who? Whoever wants to pick me up will just pick me up. And if they won't, they'll leave me here. I didn't give a hoot about this thing, so I did not attempt any emergency treatment.
If you ask me, your family is dying, are you going to rescue them? I am unsure how to advise you, because if they die, you will blame me for suggesting it. You ask me if I should go to a hospital? I can! Should not go to a hospital? I can! Because I didn’t care about this. Because he would die sooner or later, and whenever there is birth, there is death - just that stuff. Alright? So people often forget, and they will forget that they will die. If you forget, you will be ruined! I want to make money, how can I live if I don’t make money? You will die even if you make money, understand? I have to think this project over, don't stop me! I won't stop you. I will be cutting off your source of wealth. How can it be right? Opening a company, listing, getting bigger and stronger! After all, they died, they died when they grew old. Isn’t that right? What are you doing? I don’t know what you are doing. I think this is meaningless, so many things are not important.
Why can't people let go? Because they feel that they have to live like that. But I don't live for that. I don't think these things are important. Why am I living very easily and freely? Why do some persons live a heavy burden and labor? To me, these things are not important. How can I not be happy? I won't be idle and neurotic, like a little mosquito, but their wings flutter very fast, and some people's wings flutter fast, and they die quickly also. If all is vanity, then living one more day is also death, and living one less day is death also. Why are you beating them then?
There are many sisters here, and the husband is sitting next to them, listening. The husband says: Hey, what your teacher says is good! Why? His wife can’t see through it, so she is worrying; thus, many non-believing husbands in us get a lot of grace from me. Why? Because his wife has been more or less put to rights by me, she is looking for less trouble when she got home, right? People are so tired of living. Finally, everyone has to know that they will have to die sooner or later. Why do people have to live so tired? Among our people, the husbands of the sisters have to thank me. Sisters, go back and do some publicity for them, and tell your husband: Our teacher has set me right, and I have reduced the amount of trouble you have to deal with. Why? Because you have to learn to know that it is vanity when people are living, and these things are not important, then why are you fussing about?
So I am telling you, you have to listen to my Book of Ecclesiastes more. The Book of Ecclesiastes started off speaking of vanity of vanities. Lately I have had an idea, and I am ready to consolidate the Book of Ecclesiastes into one lesson and put it in our 101 Course. You’ve got to know that once people value the affairs of this world then things will go bad. Some persons value the things of this world too much, because your foundation is different from mine. My foundation is all men must die; you feel that you will live for a long time, you will live a hundred years, and things will go bad!
So people often feel that they regret this decision, and they regret hearing the pastor. You can see there were very few comments or engagement for that video. And I didn’t care, and I was not afraid that you will push the blame on me. So what’s the problem? Your mind is not working so well. You only look at the things of this world, and you don’t know who it will all revert to one day. Right? Making a little more money and making a little less money makes no difference; it is best to be easier. Just like how I always ask, are you busy at work lately? You say: Busy, so busy I could die! That means you should find something else. Can you find a job in which you have control over your own time? If you can, then switch to that. But as soon as you arrange it, you will be confused again, and if you find that someone else makes a lot, so you are just busy like a farm animal, you will make it then. This is a very important logic, and this is why when I was doing the work of this world before, before I was a pastor, it was very easy to do. I was relaxed on the inside, and in reality am I putting in fewer hours? Not necessarily, because so and so has just put my workload onto another. It is not that I am neurotic, because you will die sooner or later. Why are you so busy? Everyone, should we be thankful for hearing these words today?
6. The Logic of Dying for Jesus Christ (2): It is the Spirit Who Gives Life; It is Also the Spirit Who Kills
This statement is key: it is the Spirit who gives life, and it is also the Spirit who kills. I tell you, the flesh is of no benefit. So my series of actions, neither exercising nor maintaining health, isn't that good, because the flesh is of no benefit. Why did I get this disease? The Spirit came. Why do people maintain their health and die in their fifties? Because they are too health-conscious, raising a bunch of ghosts. Do you understand? They think living in the flesh is living, I think the flesh is of no benefit, you say how good this logic is. I live, it is my spirit that lives, and my spirit needs the word of God. So I read the word of God, my spirit lives by the word of God, and it is incomparably better for the spirit to return to God. If there is suddenly a ticket to go back, oh my gosh, even if the scalpers sell tickets, it doesn't matter.
So the most fatal thing for people is to forget what was said in 《101 courses》that the spiritual realm is very real. God often opens my eyes and lets me see the spiritual world. I tell you, seeing the spiritual world and not seeing the spiritual world; having spiritual eyes and not having spiritual eyes, the decisions made are completely different. Do you understand? You make decisions entirely based on logic, analyzing and analyzing; I am not analyzing according to the flesh, I am analyzing according to spiritual things. People's lives are in God's hands, God makes people live, and God also makes people die, can you understand? If I please God, won't there be no problem?
Recently, we have taken on many projects, why? Just to train our co-workers to learn how to do things, not just praying and preaching all day long. Praying and preaching all day long, the man looks like a Peter. The sisters, they have a Peter's wife face, a mistress face. So, I have to train our co-workers to do serious things. Taking these orders requires work, I have to tell you, this work is not important. Why? This work cannot give life, but this work is also a very spiritual thing, extremely spiritual. I tell you, everything God arranges for us is excellent. As a result, these brothers and sisters among us say, hey, it's so amazing! Why is it amazing? Because there is God behind it. It is the Spirit that gives life, that is, the work we do is also spiritual; it is also the Spirit that makes us work, do you understand now? So I tell you, if you want to save time on casting out demons, you will suffer a great loss!
Are there any salespeople among us? Salespeople who cast out demons will really have performance. Salespeople who have no performance, it is because you have not cast out enough demons and you are always being chased by demons. God gives you an order, and the order is gone halfway, taken away by others, snatched away by demons. If you are a demon caster, that order will come with a whoosh, that's great! It's not about your big忽悠, small 忽悠. Among us, one sister does sales fairly well, all thanks to her silver tongue. He said: Teacher, I feel very satisfied when I忽悠customers successfully. Oh my god, I don't even know if I忽悠ghosts here, I have to rely on casting out demons. It is the Spirit that gives people projects, and it is also the Spirit that makes people lose projects, so you must become a spiritual person.
If Jesus Christ asks you if you are willing to die for God? Say yes quickly! Why? Our living flesh is of no benefit, so it is incomparably better for our spirit to return to God. If we have a very clear understanding of the spiritual world, this is my life, this is my mingding destiny, you cannot become stupid. If you don't know the spiritual world, you feel amazing when you get a project and you become inflated. Later, it didn't work with your own ability, right? You can't get another order. People must not offend God, never offend God, and don't play games with God.
7. The Logic of Dying for Jesus Christ (3): Seeking a Better Homeland
People are going to die when they are alive, so what should I look for? I have to look for a heavenly homeland. Why look for a heavenly homeland? Because people are alive in the spirit, not in the flesh. I want to seek a homeland in eternity. So I am born for this, die for this, and spare no effort to bleed, sweat, and shed tears for this! I want to return to God, I want to return to God's home. This is why we build churches, the church that is built is the body of Jesus Christ, which is the home of God. Some people ask me: Teacher, did Peter go to heaven? He should have gone, God gave him a ticket to martyrdom, it doesn't matter if he didn't do a good job before, this time he is willing to die for God, it's pretty good. This time everyone should not be confused.
This eternal home is not on this earth, but in the heavens that cannot be corrupted, which is what we are seeking. If people are not seeking this, but are seeking to establish a listed company on earth, to become bigger and stronger, and to act in front of God, they will eventually kill themselves. If a person is to seek a better homeland in heaven, how can he not pay the price for it? Some of our brothers and sisters are silly, after finishing college, graduating from graduate school, they start wandering around, and then they wander around傻, and then it gets worse and worse, the best IQ is when they take the college entrance examination. People seek a more beautiful homeland in the world, it is not that they live and die, but that they live and live into eternity, and the effect of your service on earth will follow you into heaven. Do you understand now? It is not wandering around on earth, everyone sees you like a pile of dog shit, and you see yourself like a pile of dog shit, are you going to heaven to be dog shit? Heaven is not short of dog shit either.
People are going to die when they are alive, and it is the spirit that gives life, so we pursue a home in eternity, not living and dying, this life is part of eternity. We bleed, sweat, and even get hurt in this life, but we still choose to serve, and the effect of our service will be with us forever! Because we are going to build the church of Jesus Christ. If we are not looking for a heavenly homeland, and feel that our abilities are not good, then we are prone to fall into a trap, and we want to prove ourselves. People have invented a lot of words, and after listening to them, I don't think they are very good, such as conveying the wounded in this life, being inferior since childhood, and having low self-worth, etc., and then people want to prove themselves, and finally prove that they are still a pile of dog shit. Foolish!
I said: You can't! You said: Then I'll prove it to you. As a result, I proved that I couldn't after a long time. Isn't this tiring? I said you can't, you have to know that it's because you take this thing too seriously that it will definitely not work. Why is it impossible to take it too seriously? A lot of things in the world are proven this way. The more you value it, the worse it gets. It's like a football player running on the field, thinking: I have to win glory for the 1.4 billion Chinese people. Running with 1.4 billion people on his back, he kicked an own goal, how could that be good? Because the psychological pressure is too great, it's good to see through it.
8. The Logic of Dying for Jesus Christ (4): God is the God Who Raises the Dead
Do you know the power of God? If you don't know, you have believed in vain! So the 《Bible》 says: They did not know the power of God for forty years in the wilderness! So they tossed and turned there all day long. If God tests us, God said to Abraham: Offer your son. Abraham said: That's not okay. Only those born of Isaac are counted as my descendants. If I offer him, how can I have descendants if he dies? Look at this logic, that is, he does not know the power of God. Abraham has the several logics we talked about earlier, why does he seek God? Because he knows that people are going to die when they are alive, so he seeks God; he believes that people have spirits, and it is the spirit that gives life, so he walks a spiritual path. This is Abraham's logic. Why did Abraham seek a heavenly, eternal homeland? Because he knew that people were going to die when they were alive, so he had to seek eternal life and seek eternal glory!
At this time, God said to Abraham: Offer your son. He thought about it: How did I find my son? He was already old, and his wife Sarah's menstruation had stopped, and she had no eggs, but God allowed him to give birth to this Isaac from a dying body. Then this Isaac was given by God, and now God says to offer Isaac, and he can't figure it out, thinking: Only those born of Isaac are counted as my descendants, and now I am asked to offer Isaac, then I will not have descendants without Isaac. He kept thinking about it there, walking for three days, God gave him three days to think about it. God will surely provide on His mountain, and he began to think, what is the answer? What to prepare? What is prepared is Isaac.
Look at Abraham with tears streaming down his face? No, he offered it willingly. The most amazing thing is that Isaac also offered it willingly. These two are simply people who are not worthy of being in this world. Why? Because this Abraham has always thought that God can raise Isaac from the dead. Do you know what it is like to be raised from the dead? Then it becomes a spiritual body. Jesus Christ was resurrected from the spirit, able to walk through walls and escape into the ground. From China to Canada, whoosh! It popped out from there. That's amazing, walking on walls, no need to take a plane, this is more high-tech than high-tech. In fact, these two guys were talking about this all day long, drinking wine, chatting, and discussing that God is the God who raises people from the dead, and it's great to die for God! So Isaac felt that offering himself was a good thing, he climbed up and put himself on the altar, willingly offering himself.
Abraham thought that he had not done a good job in his ideological work, and the father and son did not discuss it so thoroughly before, so he did not tell Isaac for three days, and only told Isaac when he arrived at the destination. When he arrived at the destination, Abraham told Isaac to offer him as a living sacrifice. Isaac said: Hi! Dad, tell me earlier, so I can happily run this road with you. His father received a lot of comfort. The father and son are really great. Isaac has been prepared for a long time. Have we prepared today? How can you be prepared without these logics? Some people have a false dream and are confused about becoming a Certified Public Accountant, thinking that a Certified Public Accountant can do accounting in heaven? Do you think a Certified Public Accountant can give people the power to be raised from the dead
Isaac offered himself, which was a very powerful choice, and immediately gained the power to be raised from the dead. May God give us such a touch today, so that the power of Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead will fall on us, and we often carry the death of Jesus Christ on our bodies, so that the power of Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead will fall on us. , this is Paul's confirmation. Why doesn't Paul talk much about many things? All he talks about is loving God, because the most wonderful way is love. Are you ready? If you are ready, you will definitely give the right answer when God says this to you.
9. The Logic of Dying for Jesus Christ (5): This is the Best Choice
Today I have done a good job of preparation for everyone, but I don’t know if you can be prepared, and do a good job of ideological work for everyone. You must know that ordinary people do not have this qualification. You have to take one step up and go through five passes and kill six generals before you are qualified. Twenty years have passed since you believed in the Lord. I asked you how well you read the《Bible》. Have you read it once? No! Just sick, you also have great skills. From the time I believed in the Lord until today, reading the《Bible》 is unambiguous. Why do you like me to lead you to read the《Bible》? Everyone feels that this is enlightening. It's not like this today. In the previous generations, I just believed in the Lord and read the《Bible》 every day. The《Bible》 was read to pieces, read it to pieces. I thank God that God has given me such qualifications, so when I was praying there, God said to me: Are you willing to die for me? My tears came down, it was called a tearful run, tears welled up like a spring, I had been looking forward to this day for a long time. I said: God, I am finally qualified to be willing to die for You, this is an incomparably better choice, how could I miss it?
I said: Are you willing to donate? Some people say: No. Then how can you be willing to die? I said: Are you willing to die for Jesus? Some people say: No. You have to know that there is everything here! This is the way to wealth, and no one can cut off my way to wealth. My life is entirely in God's hands. This is not wealth, this is the way of life, and no one can stop me from getting the qualification to die for God. Amen! May this logic be deeply engraved in our hearts, so that we are prepared to pay some price. What does it matter if we can't type, learn to type? How difficult is it to learn to read if you can't read? How difficult is it to learn if you don't know how to learn and become upset when you learn? Haven't reached the point of bleeding and sacrificing? No bleeding? What is a little sweat? What is a little tired? It doesn't matter! Prepare yourself today and start from sweating, to shedding tears, to bleeding, to offering yourself, being wronged, being wronged, being hurt, being betrayed, and we serve willingly. Because serving people is like serving God, this is my logic. I encourage everyone to establish this logic well and offer themselves as a living sacrifice to God, which is a matter of course. Amen!
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. Don't Serve God with the Logic of Sodom is a hymn created by our Mingding music. It is beautiful and the words are well written. When taking life as the price, for God, do not take life as the price to Sodom. If you don't understand the meaning of offering, it is not tithing, but offering your life, that is pleasing to God. We have suffered enough sins living in the logical system of the world today. Can you change it? It looks so tiring and annoying! Make a decision with me and offer yourself to God today, to live for God and to die for God! Don't complain about doing some writing work, it will ruin your qualifications. You must start learning to find a more beautiful home in heaven, and become a wise person from now on.
Everyone raise your hands and pray with me: Lord Jesus, I am willing to offer my life to You, God, accept my offering, God, I am willing to die for You, and I am willing to live for You, from now on no one can take away my blessing; God, give me this wisdom and intelligence, so that I can imitate Abraham and imitate Isaac, and offer myself to gain this excellent blessing. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!