کورونا وائرس اور بین الاقوامی ڈاک سروس میں رکاوٹ کی وجہ سے ، ہم نے اپنی ’مُفت چھپی ہوئی کتاب کی سروس‘ کو عارضی طور پر معطّل کردیا ہے۔
اِس صورتحال کی روشنی میں ہم اِس وقت آپ کو کتابیں بھیجنے کے قابل نہیں ہیں۔
دُعا ہے کہ یہ وبائی بیماری جلد ہی ختم ہوجائے اور ڈاک سروس بحال ہو جائے۔
دُعا ہے کہ یہ وبائی بیماری جلد ہی ختم ہوجائے اور ڈاک سروس بحال ہو جائے۔
Subject 15 : The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the GALATIANS
[Chapter 1-5] Those Whose Hearts Are Set As God’s Servants (Galatians 1:10-12)
“For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Today, through the Apostle Paul’s faith, I would like to explain to you what kind of a heart a servant of God should have.
Paul is universally recognized as a servant of God by everyone. That he is undoubtedly God’s servant is because he neither sought to please men nor himself, but preached the gospel of the water and the Spirit according to the will of God the Father and of Jesus Christ, and kept his faith in this gospel under all circumstances.
It is written in Galatians 1:10, “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” The Apostle Paul said here that if he had been more devoted to please men than following the will of God, then he would not be a servant of God.
The Apostle Paul lived his life by faith as a servant of God, preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit according to God’s will. It’s because Paul had lived as a servant of God that the true and uncorrupted gospel could have been delivered to us. Just as the Apostle Paul considered it indispensable for him to preach and defend the gospel of the water and the Spirit as a servant of God, so it is only too proper for us, who have been born again by believing in this true gospel, to live as God’s servants.
Therefore, we need to examine ourselves here to see whether or not we really are God’s servants. Like Paul, we, too, have received the remission of our sins from God by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. But are we really living as God’s servants? Or are we living as the servants of our own flesh? As whose servants are you living your lives?
The Gospel Believed by the Apostle Paul and His Faith
By faith, the Apostle Paul preached to us the gospel of the water and the Spirit that contains the righteousness of God, and to fulfill the will of God, he also offered himself to God as His servant by faith. A servant is someone who has no will of his own, nor seeks his own interests, but lives only for his master.
The Apostle Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Paul admitted to God that he was a great sinner, and that he was bound to die before God for his sins. And he believed that Jesus Christ took upon all the sins of mankind once for all by being baptized by John, and that He brought him back to life by dying on the Cross and rising from the dead again. The Apostle Paul was someone who had actually died for his sins; as he accepted into his heart and believed in the work of the Lord who saved the entire human race from sin, he buried his old self, and he offered his remaining life as God’s servant and faithfully served Him, so that God’s will would be fulfilled.
“I Have Been Crucified with Christ”
The Apostle Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Paul truly acknowledged what God had done for him. Since the Law of God said, “The wages of sin is death,” Paul believed himself to have already died with Christ for his sins, and he also believed that he had risen with Christ.
Paul recognized all the Law of God. Because Paul believed in the Word, that “the law brings about wrath” (Romans 4:15), he recognized, “Ah! I am an inevitable sinner before God for I was born sinful. I am sinful when reflected upon the Law of God. That’s why I’m a sinner!” He admitted, “Since I’m a sinner before God’s Law, it is only too proper for me to die for my sins according to this Law of God.”
Paul also believed in the Truth that through His baptism, Jesus accepted his old self that had to die like this, and died on the Cross with him. In other words, Paul believed in the work of the water and blood of Jesus Christ. And as he believed that he himself had died in Christ, Paul also believed that he had risen with Christ. Such a faith could be attained when Paul united himself with Jesus by believing in His baptism. This faith of the Apostle Paul was one that followed the real Truth.
All of us also desire to live as God’s servants. Although there are many aspects to our flesh that may make us seem too insufficient to live as God’s servants, this cannot be a problem within the faith of believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. What’s important is whether or not our hearts sincerely desire to live as God’s servants. This is a crucial matter for all of us. Such desires and such faith are not just brought to you by someone else, but they are attained only when you yourselves make up your minds before God trusting in the Truth. We all need to examine ourselves carefully and verify whether or not we are indeed Gods’ servants in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Are you living as God’s servant? Or are you living as slaves to your flesh? Are you not your own master and king, and thus unable to serve Jesus Christ as your King? Are you still refusing to offer yourselves to God as His servants?
We ourselves must abdicate from our own thrones in our hearts. And we must crown God and serve Him as our King. We ourselves must then bow our knees before the throne of the King, set our minds to serve the Lord even though we are insufficient, and live by our faith in the Lord following the righteousness of God. Depending on how we set our minds and faith before God, we can either become God’s precious servants or remain incapable of serving the Lord.
First of All, We Must Set Our Minds to Live as God’s Servants
All of us must now choose whether we would live as God’s servants or men’s servants. We should realize here that if we do not live as God’s servants, then we may very well live as His enemies.
It took me ten long years since believing in Jesus for the first time before I could finally realize the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit revealed in Matthew 3:13-17, and receive the remission of my sins. At the same time, as I realized that there was no one in this world who was preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit, I came to renounce all my past life that I had lived for myself, and I set my heart to live for Jesus Christ. To spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit all over the world, I decided to put away my private life behind me, to live as a servant of God.
Knowing that there was no one anywhere in this world who was preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit, I couldn’t just keep my mouth shut. I remembered what the Lord said: “But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more” (Luke 12:48).
So I set my mind to preach this true gospel, but the problem was that I had no strength or means to do so. I therefore prayed to God: “God the Father, even though the history of Christianity spans more than 2,000 years, few in this whole world are actually preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Lord, though I am ignorant, I know for sure that the lineage of the gospel preachers of the water and the Spirit is nowhere to be found in the world. Father, I must preach this true gospel, and so please give me the strength and coworkers to achieve this. My Lord, please give me the strength to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit all over the world. I ask You would strengthen me, Lord, so that I may spread this faith in You and this gospel of Truth.”
God answered all my prayers, for He is indeed faithful. He gave me my coworkers and His Church, and provided me with everything so that I could spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the whole world. The Lord enabled me to live a new life as a servant of the righteousness of God.
Now, the gospel that my colleagues and I should believe in and preach together is this: When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist, He fulfilled all the righteousness of God by taking all the sins of the world upon Himself. Because all our sins were thus passed onto Jesus’ shoulder through this baptism He received from John, He could now carry the sins of the world to the Cross all at once and be crucified to death, and by rising from the dead again, He could become our Savior once for all. The Lord has thus fulfilled all the righteousness of God. Now, even though our acts may be insufficient, if only we believe in God’s righteousness fulfilled by Jesus in this way, then we can be washed from all our sins and reach our salvation.
Once I believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the Lord gave me the heart to live as a servant of God who follows His righteousness. Even since then, I have always wanted to obey whatever is the will of the Lord. I learned that this was the life that every servant of God should live, and I sought to forsake myself and live only for the expansion of the Kingdom of God. What I did not know was not an obstacle to this endeavor, for it’s okay just if I tried to learn them from now on; and I began to labor for God’s righteous work believing and deciding from the depth of my heart that I would always walk according to the Lord’s pleasures. That is why I am now serving the Lord, the gospel, and the people of God with my heart set as a servant of God.
The Lord wanted us to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the whole world by placing our faith in Him. I did not consider world evangelism to be difficult. God’s servants only had to assign fitting tasks to the gifted workers and saints, and if those who were entrusted with God’s work found themselves more and more insufficient, all that they had to do was just trust in the Lord even more, rely on Him and pray to Him, and live by faith. That is how we were able to spread the gospel all over the world through our Christian literature ministries to this very day.
Now, whatever might please God, we only have to serve Him by faith. When it comes to believing in and serving the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and to living as God’s servants, all that we have to do is just live according to whether or not the Lord would be pleased by our work. If the Lord is pleased by our work, then I only have to do this work with my colleagues.
Everything we have done so far has been done by God Himself. It is God who will also hold us steadfast and work through us. We are now working to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit, but this work is not something that came out of men’s own thoughts or greed. If this work we are doing did in fact come from the greed of mankind, then we would have stopped it long ago. If we had done our work entranced by our own righteousness, then we would have quit midway. If we had indeed been mesmerized by our own work, then our hearts would have turned so arrogant as to boast, “If there is anyone anywhere in this world who has done as much God’s work as we have done, let him step up.” Nor, for that matter, could we have lived to this day by our faith in the Lord.
All of us had so many shortcomings, and we could not even claim to have accomplished anything in our lives. That is precisely why we all relied on the Lord so much more and asked for His help that much more earnestly. If we were conceited and arrogant, and if we could easily do anything on our own strength, then would we have relied on the Lord even to the slightest extent?
Those who are convinced of their own merit and entranced by their own ego can hardly live nearby the Lord and trust in Him. Since everyone is imperfect, human beings can live righteously only if they are helped and assisted by the Lord. We should never overestimate ourselves, for there still remains even more work to be done. It is all thanks to the God-given power and blessings that we have been able to serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit until now. We must realize fully that our everything was achieved because of the Lord’s help.
All of Us Must Keep Our Faith as the Servants of God
It is only too proper for those who have received the remission of sin to set their hearts as the servants of God. The difference of faith is determined by whether or not our minds are set as God’s servants. Far more important than knowing biblical passages and having skills to preach the Word of God is whether or not we have set our minds to live as God’s servants. We must set the disposition of our hearts to live as servants before the Lord, and we must live accordingly. Before God, we must learn to set our hearts as His servants by faith.
When people get married, the wedding presider would ask, “Do you take your bride for your lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until death do you apart?” The groom would then say, “I do.” Likewise, as God’s servants following His will, it is only too fitting for us to live for this will of God alone, whether in times of success or trouble.
We should learn from the Apostle Paul how to set our hearts as God’s servants. We shouldn’t just try to learn about how the servants who preceded us interpreted the Bible, gave sermons, and carried out their ministries. As a matter of fact, such aspects are not that important when it comes to the issue of living properly as a servant of God. To those of us who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, God has made our hearts into His vessels to do His work. Therefore, all that we have to do is serve the Lord according to how God has made us into His vessels.
When I look at my coworkers and brothers and sisters, I look for whether their hearts are set as God’s servants first. If we want to live before God as His servants, then the merits and demerits of our flesh are completely irrelevant. Before God, our own righteousness is nothing. Human righteousness is knocked out at a single punch before God. God approves or disapproves our faith based on how much we believe in His righteousness.
As such, these are the things that we must look for when we examine ourselves to be His proper servants: “Do all of us really have faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? Have we united our hearts with Jesus Christ? Are we God’s servants or men’s servants? Although we are inadequate, are we living by our faith in the Word of God, having set our hearts as His servants?”
Recently the West Deagu Church was struck by a tragic incident. A maidservant of God passed away by an accident while she was serving the Lord. It was the most heart-wrenching tragedy that I’ve ever faced in all my years of ministry before God. Such an incident must never happen to us again. When we should serve the Lord until the day He returns to this earth, we must not lose the body that God has given us to serve the gospel. If such a tragic event happened because we were too careless before God or men, when we should rightfully have been more careful, then it’s our entire fault. Discussing this incident, we shouldn’t just say that God took away His maidservant. While God surely did accept this maidservant’s soul, God did not take her away willingly. It’s because we had failed to completely set our hearts as God’s servants and were negligent in serving the Lord.
My fellow believers, what kind of people are Gods’ servants? If we are indeed God’s servants, then it is only fitting for us to follow His will. If some of us were to quit following the Lord just because they find themselves in some difficult circumstances, then they would not be upright before God. Are such people God’s servants? No, of course not!
If we really are God’s servants, then while we may be insufficient and may not be perfect in our every endeavor, we would still try to follow the will of the Lord until the end. That is someone who has set his heart as a servant of God to always follow the will of the Lord. Although anyone can be saved from sin by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, not just anyone can have the disposition of the heart as a servant of God.
That is why God’s servants are called as the bright light that leads many people to Jesus Christ. When the saints or the follower-servants deal with their leader-servants, if they think, “Well, they and I are the same,” then they need to realize that they really have no eye to discern God’s leader-servants. The very fact that the leader-servants have abided in God’s Church for this long and served the Lord faithfully in times of trial and peace alike, means in and of itself that they are precious. It would be an utterly mistaken belief for us to ignore those who have walked by faith prior to us. Your predecessors of faith have denied the lust of their flesh and served and followed the Lord faithfully, even though they all had gone through all kinds of trials and tribulations. What we need to see from the servants of God is their hearts’ disposition as servants. That is the most precious element.
After I met the Lord, while following Him, there were times when I went through some tough times because of material conditions. Yet I never blamed God for such circumstances. On the contrary, I thanked God for His blessings, saying to myself, “The Lord lived on this earth without even a place to rest His head, but I at least have food to eat and a place to sleep. So what a tremendous blessing this is!” While following the Lord, I’ve gone through trials and tribulations, and I’ve also shed my fair share of tears. However, I was able to overcome all these difficulties and sorrows, rejoiced by the very fact that the gospel was served. Whatever might happen to the servants of God, they are fully satisfied if only the will of the Lord is fulfilled.
If people just thought about how to survive, then they can all get by, rich and poor alike. The only difference is the quality of life, but other than this, everyone can make the ends meet in one way or another. Put differently, the circumstance of the flesh is not a big problem.
If there is one thing that upsets God’s servants, it is when people reject the gospel and refuse to believe in it. Even though God has told us that those who hunger and thirst for His righteousness are blessed, these people are still not hungry nor thirsty for God’s righteousness like this, and that is why God’s servants are aroused to righteous anger. And it is not because people can’t feed on the things of the flesh that they are going through such a tough time, but it’s because they cannot bring themselves to walk by faith in the righteousness of God, when, in fact, all that they have to do is just live by believing in this righteousness of God.
I admonish you all, ministers and their wives alike, to have the faith of the servants of God and to live with the disposition of their hearts. All of us are already living like this, but I am admonishing you once again to continue to live your lives worthy of God’s servant. What we must remember is that it is absolutely indispensable for us to set our faith and our hearts as God’s servants in our lives. Regardless of whether the result of our ministries would be good or bad, all that we have to do is just live according to the righteousness of God. That is the truly correct faith.
We are now spreading the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the whole world. From where did this gospel come?
The Apostle Paul said in Galatians 1:11-12, “I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Paul made it clear here that this gospel of the water and the Spirit he received was not learnt from man. Rather, it was because Jesus Christ had shown him the gospel of the water and the Spirit and made it known to him that Paul believed in this gospel and preached it to others.
As we preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit all over the world, some people ask us, “Is this gospel a doctrine unique to your denomination alone? What is the biblical basis for this gospel?” These people think that the gospel of the water and the Spirit might have come from man, but that is absolutely not the case. The gospel of the water and the Spirit is not a man-made gospel. The gospel of the water and the Spirit is a biblical gospel (1 Corinthians 15:3-4), and it is the very gospel that accomplished God’s plan of salvation designed in Jesus Christ even before the foundation of the world.
When Jesus Christ Himself came to this earth, took upon all the sins of mankind by being baptized by John at the age of 30, died on the Cross, rose from the dead again, and has thereby saved us, how could this gospel ever be compared to the man-made doctrine of prayers of repentance? By opening His Word, God enabled us to know the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, and now, having been saved from all our sins by believing in this gospel, we are preaching it to everyone else. The gospel of the water and the Spirit that we believe in came through God Himself. Is this how you believe?
We are preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit testified by both the Old and New Testaments. Just as the Apostle Paul believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, defended it, and preached it, so do we believe in this gospel, defending and spreading it by faith. The gospel of the water and the Spirit that we have received by faith is absolutely not something that came from man. It came from God Himself. The gospel of the water and the Spirit given to us indeed came through Jesus. That is precisely why we are spreading this gospel all over the world placing our faith in it. And no matter how anyone might denounce us, we don’t even blink our eyes.
The Apostle Paul preached the gospel of the water and the Spirit until the day he died precisely because he was a servant of God. Since there could be no higher teaching than this gospel, he did not even look for such things. Whatever he did, whether he ate or drank, he did all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). To live for the glory of God is to proclaim the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the whole world. If we were to live for the purpose of spreading the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then none other than this itself means that we would be living for the glory of God. There is no life of faith that is nobler than this for us.
Are You Now God’s Servants?
The Apostle Paul is a servant of God. You and I are also God’s servants. If you and I have indeed become God’s servants by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, then we would be faithful to the work assigned to us. I recently heard that a certain worker was quite dissatisfied in his heart, saying, “I’d be so faithful if I were assigned as a senior pastor at a church, but alas, they won’t even give me the post,” and that he was neglecting his current ministry as a junior pastor.
If his post is not a senior pastor, does this mean then that what he has been entrusted to do now is somehow insignificant and lowly? No, I do not think so. Whatever God has entrusted us to do through His Church is all precious. I do not discriminate anyone based on his post as a senior or junior pastor. Our brothers and sisters serving the Lord are all precious people as well. No one is any lowlier than anyone else, nor is anyone nobler than anyone else in God’s Church.
That is why it saddens me so much to see some people having so little regard for what they have been assigned to do. It’s hard enough to fulfill everything entrusted to us even when we place our faith in the Lord, and so how could we exalt our own hearts like this? All such desires stem from one’s desire for his own glory.
How precious is it for us to believe in and serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit? When we do God’s work, to devote all our hearts to it in whatever field assigned to us is to be treasured. For us to preach the Word of God itself is a precious work. Indeed, everything we do to spread the gospel of the water and the Spirit is all cherished. If God had entrusted me with some other work instead of preaching His Word, then I would have laid down my life for this work as well.
A servant of God is someone who, when entrusted with a certain task by the Lord, is faithful to that work. Whatever God’s servants do, whether they eat or drink, they do it all for the glory of God, and so given this fact, how could there be any preferential treatment based on what they do? Is it only when we do something noble that we are God’s servants, but not so when we do what people consider to be lowly? Then, who has established such a standard to distinguish the noble work from the lowly work? In God’s dominion, when we are faithful to what God has entrusted to us, then this itself is precious; and if we are otherwise faithful to our own carnal affairs, then this is to do what is ignoble. You have to grasp this properly and believe in it.
Indeed, it is my sincerest hope and prayer that you would all become God’s servants by placing your faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and live the rest of your lives preciously. For those of us who have been born again of water and the Spirit, there can be no other valuable life than this. What you have been entrusted with and are doing right now is what is most precious, and when the day of the Lord comes, God, too, will commend you for having faithfully carried out His work, saying to you, “Well done, My good and faithful servants!”
Right now you need to examine your hearts carefully to see whether or not you are working and serving properly as God’s servants. If we are living our lives of faith setting our minds as God’s servants, then we are at least doing some of what we are supposed to do. We have nothing to boast about before the Lord. We constantly have nothing to offer but our insufficiencies. Because we are fundamentally inadequate by nature, we are incapable of serving the Lord to perfection, and that is why we have so many shortcomings and so many excuses. Yet despite this, God is telling us to be faithful to death, and by this, God is telling us to labor before Him setting our hearts as His servants.
A servant of God is someone who obeys the will of his Master risking his life. If we cannot lay down our lives for the work of God, then we should at least cherish it with our hearts, for this is the will of our Master. God’s servants must have the kind of faith that cherishes what their Master God has entrusted to them, no matter how others might see them. Although I am not that knowledgeable in writing composition or editing, I can only do my best on what has been entrusted to me.
Do you know since when we have been in this literature ministry? We began this ministry since the very beginning of our Mission. Do you know where our foresight was set when we began this ministry? We began with our sight set on spreading the gospel throughout the whole world. It was from then on that I preserved all my sermons and prepared them for publication, anticipating that we would be spreading the gospel and nurturing the born-again all over the world through literature, and my expectations were met.
In fact, whatever God has entrusted to us is all precious, that that is why we are indeed doing all these works by faith. Of course, it is you and I who serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit that are doing the most precious work in this world. For instance, some of our brothers take care of the heating system so that the saints would worship God in warmth. All these tasks are good works precisely because they are all God’s works. As a matter of fact, there is nothing that we are too ashamed of doing now, for we have been saved from all our sins. Because we have been saved from all our sins and are doing God’s work, no matter where we might work, we have every confidence, and no matter what kind of work considered lowly by the people of this world we might do, we have absolutely no shame at all. On the contrary, it is the people of the world whom we pity. They are pitiful because they have not been able to meet the Lord.
All our ministers, brothers, sisters, and workers are precious. Among them, those whose hearts’ disposition is set as God’s servants are even more precious. When we serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit, our hearts will be set as God’s servants in due course, and when we follow the Lord, in time our faith will grow into that of the servants of God and we will therefore come to live by faith. That is why we are serving the Lord; if we were to follow the Lord against our will without such a heart and such faith, then it would be impossible to follow the Lord until the end.
Without faith, it is not easy to serve the Lord in obedience to His Church. When the Church assigns you with a certain task, its policies may change frequently, and more often than not, your task itself might be cancelled even as you were working hard at it. So, under these conditions, if you were not working by faith, I can fully see why you would be upset and not be able to obey until the end. However, it’s because you are God’s servants that you throw away such rebellious thoughts and submit to the will of the Lord. Just as the Apostle Paul had lived all his life with his heart and faith set as a servant of God, it is my sincerest hope that God would also give us the same heart of His servant.
When I look at our ministers and brothers and sisters, it is their hearts that I especially want to look. I can then know the condition of their hearts without having to talk with them extensively. If they are God’s servants, then they are more precious than anyone else, and even if they have only barely received the remission of their sins and still have not set their hearts as God’s servants, I still cherish them all. To some people, I commend them for just attending God’s Church faithfully. Only when I know the state of one’s faith in his heart can I lead him properly according to appropriate times.
We all have to appreciate what was the heartfelt desire of the Apostle Paul. If we were seeking to please men, then this can only mean that we are not God’s servants. And we must know what God’s heart desires. Whom should a servant of God really please? He should please no one else but God Himself. He who pleases God is a true servant of God.
In God’s Church, there is a certain order of faith. When each of us submits to the order of faith inside God’s Church, this has nothing to do with how old we might be in our flesh. Paul said to Timothy, “Let no one despise your youth” (1 Timothy 4:12). Regardless of how old or young your predecessors of faith might be, if you believe that the Lord is working through them, and if you therefore obey them, then this is indeed a noble faith. It is by our hearts’ faith that we should approach God, it is by faith that we should work, it is in faith that we should treat our brothers and sisters, and it is also in faith that we should address our servants of God, men and women alike. Otherwise we are all hypocrites. Indeed, when we treat each other in faith, we can never be alone, but we are one family with God.
God’s servants are rejoiced to see the gospel being spread, and they seek the interests of the Kingdom of God. If we really believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and desire to spread this gospel, then we would indeed live with our hearts set as God’s servants. And if we really have set our hearts as God’s servants, then we should kindly overlook some of the small, unfortunate incidents in God’s Church. If this is what is beneficial to God’s work, then we should do so by faith. People usually think a servant of God must live a life of immaculate integrity beyond any reproach, of honest poverty and of holiness; in God’s Church, however, a servant is not anyone else but someone who seeks the interests of his Master. The disposition of God’s servants is to do whatever must be done to fulfill the will of the Lord, even if this does not necessarily fit into their own thoughts.
When we serve the Lord, unfortunate incidents do happen sometimes, but God is working with people who are insufficient like us. That’s why we are so much more grateful. None of us can do God’s work flawlessly from the very beginning. Our Lord Himself is not unaware of this either. He just looks at whether or nor our hearts have been set as God’s servants, and if only we have such a heart and such faith, then the Lord fills all our needs so that we may carry out God’s work. Since this is how the Lord’s will is fulfilled, His servants are only too rejoiced by this.
Everyday, I get updates from the mission division relaying testimonies of salvation and news from our coworkers coming from all over the world. Each and every time I hear such news, I am so much more thankful for the privilege of serving the Lord. I realize, “Even while we are asleep, the Lord still works. So many people have read our books and received the remission of their sins, and they are now sending us their testimonies of salvation. As the Lord said that He does not sleep, He is indeed working tirelessly.” Whenever I think about this, I thank the Lord even more, and I bow down before Him and ask Him to be used even more valuably for this precious work of the Lord. Sometimes, we thank God for making us bear more fruits than what we have labored for. Although from time to time we find ourselves struggling, we have received far more blessings than we have served, and that is why we are so grateful beyond any words.
A servant is someone who seeks his master’s interests, not his own. You and I must set our hearts as God’s servants and live our lives to seek the Lord’s interests. Indeed, there are brothers and sisters who have actually offered themselves to God to live as His servants. Such servants and workers, men and women alike, are all precious. Of course, every soul is precious. There is no one among those born again of water and the Spirit who is not cherished. They are all precious because they are our brothers and sisters, workers of the Kingdom of God, and members of Jesus Christ. Anyone who only boasts of himself, as if he were a big fish in a small pond, is someone who has no clue where the heart of a servant of God should be placed.
Our ministers sometime get together and seek advice from the senior church leaders, asking, “This is what happened at my church. What should I do?” We also consult over world evangelism, and share the decided tasks amongst us as well. The very fact that I am entrusted with any task at all, whatever it might be, is itself something to be grateful. All these things are done to find the most appropriate and best way to serve the gospel. It doesn’t matter what happens to us; all that matters is that we spread the gospel faithfully. God’s Church always looks ahead, provides a vision, and establishes appropriate policies to work. However, when all these works are about to be launched, the Church first discerns whether they are according to God’s will. Once they are to be executed, we always rely on God, and carry them out with constant prayers.
If God’s servants are too attached to material belongings, then they cannot live as His servants. Whether rich or poor, a servant is still a servant. We are stewards. Stewards are supposed to manage everything well and then leave it all behind. A servant’s heart is interested only in the spreading of the gospel.
Let us, then, live the rest of our remaining lives as God’s servants, placing our faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and then go and stand before the presence of God. I have every confidence that just as you have lived by faith so far, you will continue to live by faith into the future. In the days to come, we should never lose our disposition as God’s servants, nor should we seek only our own welfare and our own glory, but we should dedicate ourselves to God’s work and live our lives by faith entirely for His righteousness. Only then can we walk with Christ and live our lives united with Him.
There are so many things that I do not know. It’s not because I’m somehow any better than you that I am admonishing you like this. Rather, it’s because God has called you as His servants and entrusted you with His work that I can say these things. I believe that you will faithfully carry out the task that’s been assigned to you. It’s because you and I have the Holy Spirit in our hearts that I believe like this.
I am happy to live as a servant of God. I am so rejoiced that whatever I do, whether I drink or eat, I am living only for my Master. Now, after this worship service is over, we will all break bread together. Everyone will eat and rejoice in fellowship. God told us that whatever we do, whether we eat or drink, we should do all to His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). That’s why I am happy. Are you also happy?
Although we are truly insufficient, we are still happy, for we are able to live for the Lord, with our hearts always upbeat and set as God’s servants. Now then, let us all live in joy by our faith in the Lord. I believe that it is for this very purpose, to enable us to live like this, that God has given us the faith that has saved us from sin, and the power and blessing to do His work.
I give all my thanks to God. Halleluiah!
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