from first to become one
【Whisper from the Shepherd】"Going Home" in Busan, South Korea
In the low-temperature Busan, experience the warmth and release of "going home"
January 2016 was the lowest temperature in Busan in 200 years. However, the reunion of 4,000 family members from various countries was giving birth to a new South Korea. On the morning of the last day, we sang: "Today you have given us victory, Korea, you have been freed." We all felt that a new Korea was born. We were no longer wild horses working hard on our own, but had been tamed and Rejoice with Korea on the mount of the God of Love.
Following the Holy Spirit is both easy and difficult. It's simple because we don't make our own decisions, we just surrender and follow; it's difficult because we always have our own opinions. But we still have to believe, ask, and wait, and then God will speak. Here we learn obedience, and it is easy to follow the Holy Spirit when we are obedient. We wait until God speaks. If God does not speak, we have no plan B. Because even the Lord Jesus said: “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father doing, He can do.” (John 5:19) We are willing to bring this understanding and practice to our homes and work. , schools, churches, obey the Holy Spirit and let Him lead. We will inevitably be afraid of losing control, but we will hear God say: "I am a good Father, surrender to My presence, and we will break through together."
We love the Lord our God, but we are not perfect, and we will inevitably hear and do wrong. But He is the way, the truth, and the life, not a theology! Once I realize this, I don’t have to be afraid, because when I go wrong, this road, the Lord Himself, will correct me! What a relief it was for me to understand this!
The whole "going home" is still about home. Home is a safe place. In the warmth of home, the defense system that has been wrapped up for many years is unloaded unconsciously. Pastors openly share their weaknesses, publicly reconcile with their children, and apologize to the congregation. God’s truth is now incarnate in a group of children who are willing to please the Lord! We are happy and shed tears. It was impossible a few years ago. Now, with families walking together, one country after another is changing. God is equipping us to unite men and women of God around the world into a family of love to welcome the light and the coming of the end of the world. Fierce battle in the realm of darkness.
▲From the first to becoming one, God’s will is slowly revealed to some people.
from first to become one
On the morning of the third day, Assistant Pastor Zhou shared a heart-warming message: From the First to Becoming One. He talked about a church in South Korea. Before building a church, they first measured the size of the largest church in the area and then built a larger one. Once, Pastor Zhou went to South Korea to participate in a church growth seminar. There were two seminars going on at that time, each doing its own thing and not integrating into one. As a result, this mentality was passed on to pastors who came from all over the world to learn. After returning, they also They all came first in the competition. Pastor Zhou said: But thank the Lord, God’s will is slowly revealed to some people.
More than ten years ago, I met Pastor Dai Mian'en. He did not talk about growth, but only unity. He always said that God hopes to see true fathers and true sons emerge in the church. At that time, we didn’t understand. We have pastors and believers. What does it mean to be a son or a father? Thank God, for the first thirty years I hoped that the church would grow and become number one, but in these ten years, I began to want to be one with others.
In Taiwan’s churches, fewer and fewer people want to be number one, and more and more people want to be one. So we apologized, repented, and connected with each other in love, and the large and small churches became a family. Your church is my church, your God is my God, and my resources are your resources. Taiwanese, Mandarin, Hakka ethnic groups and aborigines gradually became one. God's grace comes more abundantly, and the orphan spirit is removed.
In the past, I only knew how to be a pastor, not a father. However, pastors did not have a father's heart, and many believers did not have a son's heart. This orphan mentality is not only found among young people, but also among fathers and preachers. Orphans are not only found in orphanages but also in churches. But through "going home" we learn to be children, children become parents, and then the parents' hearts turn to their children, and the children's hearts turn to their parents, ending this thousand-year generation of young fathers, young sons, and young families. What a big deal this is! The church atmosphere has changed, the city-state has been transformed, hallelujah!
▲More and more people want to go from being first to becoming one. Churches are connected in the Lord and become one big family.
A true son of God feels secure
The purpose of God’s redemption is for us to become like the Son of God. The creation is waiting for the sons of God to grow, mature, and appear (see Romans 8:19, 29). A true son has a sense of security and does not need to be first. A true father sees his children as better than himself and is not jealous. Moreover, because he cares about his heavenly Father, he is willing to see the church connect with each other and become a big family.
Sure enough, the church in Taiwan has grown in the past ten years and has more influence on society and the country than in the past 140 years! Unity brings the blessing of authority and destiny (see Psalm 133:1-3). The Korean church has helped churches around the world grow, but God wants them to go from pursuing first to becoming one. Today, all countries have come to stand with South Korea and create a new South Korea, which will have a greater impact than before!
Pastor Zhou’s son, Pastor Sunzheng, continued to speak, and his speech was very profound and sincere. He said, "Our efforts come from the hearts of insecure orphans. We work hard to be affirmed and accepted."
"For a long time, that was me. I believed in the Lord when I was eight years old, and I tried to love God. I was afraid that I would not love enough, and that God would be displeased by committing sins. When I saw others not loving the Lord, my heart would murmur. After becoming a pastor, I still tried hard to pray for God. But when I see God raising up my friends to be better than me, I cannot stand it and cannot rejoice with those who rejoice. That is the spirit of an orphan. Although I love and serve God, I am like a servant and not like a son. After pursuing, being baptized in the Spirit, and receiving gifts, the result was that I only used the Holy Spirit as a tool for preaching the gospel, and lived like this for thirty years until one day the Lord said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. "No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) I suddenly understood that the Lord said He was the way and that He would take me to my destination, and that destination was the Father."
▲Today we must strive to know God’s love.
"So I read the four Gospels again and found that all the Lord did was to tell me that Heavenly Father is a good father and that He loves me. Jesus prayed in John 17: 'I have revealed Your name to them. …and know that you love them as you have loved me” (17:6, 23).
"Jesus came to correct our past wrong impressions of the Father. He is not a God waiting to punish us. Regarding the woman caught in adultery, Jesus said: Whoever is without sin among you, let him be the first to be stoned. She. Then said to the woman: Go away and sin no more (see John 8:3-11). That was the father speaking.
“Jesus took our hands and walked to Heavenly Father, and gently placed our hands in Heavenly Father’s big hands. There I stopped my lifelong pursuit, because I finally found the identity of my creation. I am God. The precious son of the Father, it is no longer my effort to love Him, but He has already fallen in love with me. The Holy Spirit tells me that you are a son, and you don’t need to work hard to be accepted. You already belong to Him, and He loves you and wants to be with you. Close."
“When I found my ultimate destiny, my insecurities were removed and I began to be able to rejoice in the success of others. I still worked hard, but not out of fear, but with rest. Former Ministry It’s because I love Him, but today I serve because He loves me! I used to think that I must try my best to love God, but now I have to try my best to know God’s love with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. Love Him? He loves me with all his heart, soul, mind and strength!"
I was deeply moved. The entire Christian faith has been transformed into a crystal pearl. Holding it in my hand, I can see clearly. We own it! Thank you Pastor Zhou and his son. This is God’s work, and it is the fruit of many years of “going home”! The song that was sung in worship that morning happened to be "No more struggle in love." At the end of the song, the dancers hugged each other, and everyone below also hugged each other, conveying love, which is no longer the level of the mind, but the rhythm deep in the soul. The plane has wheels that glide on the runway. Once it reaches a high altitude, the wheels retract. At this time, the entire congregation has ascended to the third heaven, meeting God in spirit and soaring.
Hope that the value of “going home” will take root in the church
I shed a lot of tears during the meeting. On the one hand, I was moved, and on the other hand, I was thinking, Lord, how can we implement these things into the church instead of telling thousands of people every time when they return from the "home" meeting happily: "You know, the dancing is great, Pastor Dai's lecture is great..." People who didn't go were confused and even disgusted.
My burden is to hope that the value of "going home" will take root in the church, let Jesus be the senior pastor, and let the desire of the Heavenly Father become our pursuit. Only in this way will the church have love and power, the world will envy it, and Satan will be afraid of it. We all know the conditions: let go of yourself, die to the old self, live to God, be healed, become children, become parents, love, and be one. This is our goal, to learn, to live, and then one day see the Lord openly without regrets, and celebrate joyfully in eternity!
Author profile Pastor Xu Zongshi is a doctor of microbiology and a master of divinity from Trinity Theological Seminary in Chicago. He is currently the senior pastor of the New Jersey Evangelization Center in the United States. Author of the book "Flying Out of the Bird Cage".