When we begin, let us bow our heads and have a short prayer.
Lord, we thank You for gathering us here this afternoon by Your grace. We ask that You would continue to appear to us and give us strength in the inner man, that we may live by the resurrection life.
May this time together be full of the life of the Lord. You are the source of living life. Only You can supply us.
Lord, we commit to You both the one who speaks and the ones who hear. May You receive all our love, so that we may know more clearly and clearly that only You are our goal. Let us love no one else and pursue no one else, so that Your work may be completed in us and Your image may be formed within us.
May every brother and sister, wherever we live on earth, be a witness of Christ. Hear our prayer. In the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
In this third afternoon session, we want to fellowship with the brothers and sisters concerning practicing godliness.
This thought comes from 1 Timothy 4. Please turn to 1 Timothy 4. We will read from verses 7 through 11.
But godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come.
Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation.
For to this end we labor and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of them that believe.
These things command and teach.
Many brothers and sisters know that to be godly means to be like God—to live out the image or likeness of God.
If we do not have the character of Christ, we will not have His image. If we do not have His image within, then outwardly we will not have His likeness. Therefore, the pursuit of godliness has much to do with our willingness to accept God’s changes in our life.
As we mentioned in the first afternoon, in God’s eternal will, He desired every person whom He created to have His image, so that everyone could express God’s likeness. Therefore, God wants to form the character of Christ in each one of us.
When a Christian is first saved, God gives us His life. In this life is included God’s image, the character of Christ, and the personality of Christ. If we go through the work of the cross and the work of the Holy Spirit, the character of Christ will gradually be formed within us.
That is to say, the image of God grows within us. Or, we may say that we obtain the image of God. Then, naturally, in our life we express the likeness of God. We know this is His will.
Today, when God wants to build His church, what does He use? As we said in the second afternoon, He uses the character of Christ to build the church.
In Christianity today, many think that if we have gifts, we can build the church. If we have ability and knowledge, then we can build the church. But we have not paid sufficient attention to the importance of character.
Therefore, we see many difficulties arising in different fellowships. Many people have great gifts, great abilities, and abundant knowledge, yet the governing of the church is full of problems.
The remarkable thing is that some large churches have many problems, while some churches with only a few people still have great problems. Why do we have these problems? The root of these problems is character.
A good character is something God can use. A bad character brings much trouble to the church. I think we all understand this.
It is like our family life. Many problems come from our character. Often, it is not even a matter of money, nor is it merely the relationship itself. Very often, the problem is character.
If a marriage is built upon good character, the marriage and the family will be beautiful. But when people have difficult characters, the family will have many problems. If you have several children who all have difficult characters, you will have much trouble.
You know that character has great influence in our life. Many Christians suffer not necessarily because they are sinning or because they have done something obviously wrong. Many people suffer because of their own character, and their character causes both them and those around them to suffer.
Therefore, when God saves us, He needs to work upon our character. What kind of character can be considered good?
As we said yesterday afternoon, none of our natural characters is beautiful. As Christians, we should have God’s viewpoint. In God’s sight, no natural character is beautiful, and no natural character is complete.
God’s will is to put the character of His Son into us. In the eyes of God, only the character of Christ, His Son, is truly beautiful. Only His character is perfect and complete.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, God wants to use the character of His Son to replace ours. This concerns not only our family life and our life on earth; more importantly, it concerns His eternal will and the building up of His church.
We pray that the Lord, in this conference, will show us this point very clearly. Then we will no longer admire our own character or praise the characters of others. Rather, we should encourage one another to pursue the character of Christ, so that it may be manifested through us.
Where the character of Christ is manifested more fully in the church, the condition of the church will be more normal. There will also be a greater testimony of the oneness of Christ’s Body.
This building of character has much to do with our daily life and our spiritual life, because this is God’s will. The character of Christ is spiritual character; therefore, we need the Lord’s changing work upon us.
When Paul wrote to Timothy, especially in 1 Timothy 4, he paid much attention to exercising oneself unto godliness. Since we want to live out the likeness of God, this is a very important pursuit for a Christian.
In the first afternoon, we mentioned that a Christian has two important pursuits:
Paul mentions these two points clearly in 1 Timothy 4, because this is basic learning for a Christian. Paul wanted the children of God to be taught in the Word of God. This concerns knowing.
The second point is to exercise yourself unto godliness. This concerns character. Therefore, we need the kind of character to which God can entrust His purpose.
Paul here encourages Timothy. He says that bodily exercise profits a little. He places bodily exercise in contrast with the exercise of godliness.
Among the brothers and sisters, I have noticed that more and more people pay attention to bodily exercise. Very often, when we talk together, we speak much more about how to exercise the body than about how to exercise unto godliness.
During these years, I have traveled among the children of God. Some brothers and sisters are very happy to see me, and the first thing they give me is a huge book about how to exercise the body. I already have several copies at home.
They do not pay much attention to my spiritual condition, but they pay attention to my bodily condition. Perhaps in the first century, because the Olympic trend was very popular, everyone in Asia Minor was concerned with bodily exercise.
Therefore, Paul had a concern in his heart and encouraged Christians. Perhaps Timothy also had a weak body and exercised for that reason. Paul did not say that bodily exercise is worthless. He said that it profits a little.
Paul did not say that we should not exercise our bodies, but we cannot neglect the other exercise. It is more important to exercise unto godliness.
When we exercise spiritually, it benefits us not only spiritually but also physically. I truly feel that the condition of our spirit has much to do with the body.
My father, who has gone to be with the Lord, lived with us. He had the character of a soldier. After the evening meal, he would not eat anything, even if we brought out the best food for him. We could ask him merely to taste a little, but he would not do it. He had that character.
For me, I am very weak. Whatever is brought to the table, I will try. Even when I am very full, if they bring out more food, I will try it. Therefore, my body is not as strong as my father’s. You can see that a person’s character can influence his body.
If we have the character of Christ, it is beneficial even to our body, because godliness is profitable for all things, and this includes the body.
There is a wrong concept. Sometimes people say that a brother or sister loves God so much and practices godliness all day, and therefore his body becomes weak. That is a wrong concept.
The Lord Jesus Himself had a healthy body, because our Lord had a perfect character. Therefore, His daily living was very normal. Of course, this is outside our main topic, but we know that a good character causes us to express God’s likeness.
A person’s change in character has something to do with how mature that person is. It also has something to do with whether God can give us more blessing.
I remember being with an elder brother once. Suddenly he said, “I think that the receiving of grace by many Christians has something to do with their character.” Brothers and sisters, this is true.
In John 3:34, it says that God gives the Spirit without measure. We know that this speaks of Christ, the Lord Himself. God gave the Spirit to His Son without measure.
This describes the condition when the Son of God became flesh on earth. As Christians, we need to understand one thing: the greatest gift God can give us is the Lord Jesus Himself.
God gave His Son to us as a gift. This is the greatest gift. The greatest blessing God gives is the Holy Spirit.
Galatians tells us that when we receive the blessing of Abraham, this refers to the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ has already finished everything, and God has placed all fullness in His Son and given Him to us.
This is a marvelous thing. When we have Jesus Christ, we have all the fullness of God. Yet many Christians cannot believe this because they do not feel it.
But the fact is that when you have Jesus Christ, you have all the fullness of God. Where, then, is the problem? We must allow the Holy Spirit to release that fullness.
As Christians, if we want reality, we need the Holy Spirit. We cannot experience spiritual reality without the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the greatest blessing we receive today is the Holy Spirit.
All the small blessings around us in daily life are given through the Holy Spirit. Why was the Holy Spirit given to the Lord without measure? Because the character of Christ is a perfect character.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, if we have the character of Christ in our life, God’s blessing will continue to come upon us. Think back over your life. God gives us the Holy Spirit in order to bring us into blessing.
Why do so many people say, “I have lost the blessing”? Often, it is because we have bad character within us. We do not have the character of Christ to submit ourselves completely under the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Christ has a character that completely cooperates with the Holy Spirit. But when the Holy Spirit wants to work within us, it is difficult because of our natural character.
When I was young, I often heard brothers say, “The Holy Spirit moves, but we do not move.” It is not that He does not move. He moves, but we do not respond. What does He encounter? He encounters our natural disposition within us.
Let me give you a simple example. In a prayer meeting, we may encourage brothers and sisters, “Open your mouth to pray.” Of course, the encouragement of man does not mean much.
Yet many sit there while the Holy Spirit is moving them. He moves them so strongly that their heart seems ready to come out of their mouth, and still they will not open their mouth.
When I was in high school, I had an interesting experience. In a young people’s meeting, we had an open time for prayer, and many young people prayed. There was one young person sitting beside me.
He was so moved that he was shaking in his chair. In my heart I said, “Just open your mouth. Open your mouth.” He struggled for ten or fifteen minutes.
I became impatient, so I struck his lap. As soon as I did, he sprang up and cried out, “Oh, sorry!” Then, all at once, his prayer came out.
You know, God cannot use natural character. God must break us. If He does not break us, we cannot be used by God.
Of course, this is one extreme: the Holy Spirit moves and moves, but you will not move. There are others for whom prayer becomes merely a habit.
We often say of some person, “Whenever the church gathers, he is there, and whenever the church gathers, he will pray.” When he begins praying, he does not end for ten or fifteen minutes, and others cannot bear it. This also is a problem of character.
No matter how the Holy Spirit tries to stop him, he will not stop. Brothers and sisters, these are very simple examples, but they show us the problems the Holy Spirit encounters in our lives.
Sometimes God wants to place a blessing upon us, but it is very difficult. Yet we have also experienced that when we obey the Holy Spirit, we become free and joyful.
God’s greatest gift to us is the Lord Jesus Himself, and His greatest blessing is the Holy Spirit. How we receive that blessing has much to do with our character.
When the Lord was on earth, His whole life was under the leading of the Holy Spirit. In the history of mankind, only the Lord Jesus completely cooperated with the Holy Spirit.
When the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness, He went into the wilderness. When the Holy Spirit led Him to work, He worked. When the Lord Jesus spoke, He spoke by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. When He worked, He worked according to the power of the Holy Spirit.
Not only in His life in the flesh did He fulfill everything the Father desired, but He also completely represented and manifested God. He became our example, our model, and our standard.
Today, we need to be conformed to His image and to have His character, so that when the Holy Spirit leads us, He will have freedom in us.
This concerns not only our salvation. Our character has much to do with the degree to which God can use us. This concerns our service and the will of God.
Only those with good character can be used by God. God is not looking at how great our ability is, how much knowledge we have, or how intelligent we are. God wants to use those who obey, who are humble, who are filled with love, and who are filled with peace.
How much God can use us has to do with how much of Christ’s character is formed in us. Someone may have terrible character and yet possess great gifts. Does God use him? Perhaps there is much outward work, but it is not necessarily gold, silver, and precious stones.
A great congregation, a large meeting hall, and many activities do not necessarily mean that there is gold, silver, and precious stone. God wants to obtain gold, silver, and precious stones. We must see how much of the character of Christ is manifested in the brothers and sisters.
In matters where God can use us, there is a principle of convenience. Some people are very convenient for God to use. But when people have bad character, it becomes very inconvenient for God. We are often very troublesome; therefore, we must change.
If we remain this way our whole life, God cannot use us.
Let me give you another example. In our family, we have many tools. To solve certain problems, you need to use the appropriate tool. If you use the wrong tool, it creates much trouble.
If you do not have the character of Christ, it is like using the wrong tool to solve a problem.
This afternoon, we need to speak more practically, so I will give examples from service. In the church, we need to visit brothers and sisters.
In many gatherings, visitation of the brothers and sisters is a significant problem. This should not be an organization arranged by a certain person; it should be according to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes the Lord moves us to visit someone, but because of our bad character, we give the Lord one excuse after another. “I just got off work, and I am tired. I need to rest. I cannot even finish the things at home. I need others to visit me. How can I visit others?”
Perhaps that person has a great need. The Holy Spirit may be moving you to care for him and to help him. But the Holy Spirit moves, and you do not move. In this way, you may hinder another person’s progress.
On the other hand, there are people who love to visit everyone. The Holy Spirit does not need to move them at all; they simply go from one home to another.
Originally, to visit others is to bring the life of Christ into their homes. Please forgive me for saying this, but the church truly has this problem: some go to other people’s homes for the purpose of scolding them.
We had a brother with good intentions who wanted to visit a brother’s or sister’s home because there was a problem in that household. When he arrived, however, he scolded them.
Later, a sister from that family came to tell me, “That brother came and scolded me. After he left, my nose bled for three days. For a whole week, I could not sleep.”
I thought to myself, “What kind of visitation is this?” Certainly, this was not according to the Holy Spirit. It was his own natural disposition. He wanted to be a busybody.
If you go to other people’s homes to spread gossip, it is even worse. In the building up of the church, we truly need the Holy Spirit to carry out a changing work in our lives.
Let us emphasize again: what kind of character can God use? Only the character of Christ. If we are to become convenient tools that God can use, we must have the character of Christ.
In the Bible, we can read many examples of this. When believers have the character of Christ, God can use them. But whenever their own natural disposition comes out, bad things happen.
Even Moses was not exempt. God told him to speak to the rock, but he struck the rock twice. This was the expression of his natural character. In his service, he misrepresented God.
David was the same way. There was a dark side in his character. We know that only the character that comes out of Christ can be used by God.
Of course, Moses and David had far more of the character of Christ than we do. Although they had shortcomings, God could use them according to the measure of Christ’s character formed in them.
How much God can use us in His work has to do with how much change we allow Him to work in us. Therefore, as Christians, we need to pursue a good character.
I hope that after this conference, every brother and sister will have a clear understanding of what good character is. Only the character of Christ is good character. Do not use any human character as the standard. Only the character of Christ is the standard.
Generally speaking, we see in the Bible that good character has certain characteristics. I would like to share five points from my understanding.
The first point is that a good character is easily filled. In the service of God, to be filled with the Holy Spirit is a very important matter.
Sometimes, when we serve or preach, we serve without strength. It is not because the Spirit is not full. The character of Christ is always full.
David describes overflowing blessing in the Psalms. This is a beautiful picture, but we should not treat it merely as doctrine. Our cup should often be overflowing.
Sometimes, when we meet other brothers and sisters, it is not that God has not worked in them, but there is very little life flowing out. It is pitiful. We see very few who are overflowing.
Every morning when you come before the Lord, do not first pray for your needs. Your first prayer should be, “Lord, I bring You my little cup. May You bless it so that it overflows. May I live today as a cup overflowing.”
Of course, we need the Holy Spirit to work in our lives and in our character. In church history, the person most like the Lord Jesus was Stephen.
Stephen was the first martyr. He did not live many years on earth, but he was very much like our Lord Jesus. If you read Acts 6 and 7, you see a particular characteristic in Stephen: he was overflowing.
The Bible describes him as full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. His faith was full, the Word of the Lord was full in him, and grace and power were full upon him.
When he argued in the synagogue with learned men of Judaism, it was not by his own wisdom. The Spirit of God within him was overflowing. Faith, grace, and power were full in him, and those who argued with him could not withstand him.
Stephen had the character of Christ. When he was martyred, his words and his expression were like those of the Lord Jesus. It was not merely an outward likeness; the likeness of Christ was being manifested.
When people stoned Stephen, he knelt before God and prayed:
Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
This is not an easy thing. If we do not have the character of Christ, we will not have this expression. We may think we would do the same thing as Stephen if we were martyred, but without Christ’s character, we could not.
In the first century, we see that the apostles were the same. Whenever they experienced outward persecution and stood up, the Holy Spirit filled them. Their character made it easy for the Holy Spirit to work in them.
If we want to pursue the overflowing blessing of the Holy Spirit, we must pursue a changed character.
The second point we see in the Lord Jesus is that He was willing to let go for the Lord. This is the character of God. Whatever He has, He is willing to give. He is abundant.
He gives and gives and gives. In the end, He gave even His own Son.
No wonder Abraham had a special place in God’s heart. In Genesis 22, we see that his life reached an apex. When God asked Isaac from him, he did not hesitate, but gave up Isaac.
This event does not merely represent Christ being crucified. We see the character of God upon Abraham. To give is not easy.
I have two sons. I have said to myself, “If God asked this of me, could I do it?” I told the Lord, “No way could I do it.” This shows that I do not have the character of Christ.
Yet in church history, some brothers and sisters truly had the character of Christ. Perhaps you have heard the story of an older sister who had three sons.
One son offered himself to serve the Lord and was killed. The second son was also martyred. Then the third son went out and was martyred.
At last, the older sister was crying. Others thought she was weeping because all three sons had died, and they tried to comfort her: “Please do not cry. Please do not be sad. They have gone to the Lord.”
She said, “I did not cry because of their martyrdom. I cry because I do not have a fourth son to offer to the Lord.”
You see, she had the character of God. If we have the character of God, it is easy to give. But today it is hard for us to give even a little. Our natural character is, “I want, I want, I want.”
God does not ask us for our sons, nor does He ask us to give our lives in that way. But if we have the character of Christ, we can give.
Paul said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Giving is a blessing. Because God gave His own Son, there are now many sons.
The third point is this: the character manifested in our Lord Jesus is a soft character. This means that it is easy for Him to yield and to be moved according to God’s will.
Our natural character is often very strong and stubborn. It is not easy for God to change us; He must use much energy.
When I was young, older brothers were leading us. Once an elder brother spoke to me concerning another coworker. He said that it was very difficult to ask this person to have a ministry of the Word.
He said, “Even with nine oxen, you cannot pull him,” because his character was very, very strong.
Brothers and sisters, in daily life we need to be changed. This includes many spiritual lessons. I will leave it to you to consider.
The fourth point is that the character of our Lord Jesus is balanced. Because our character is often not balanced, we create problems in the church.
Why were there divisions among the Corinthians? Simply put, their character was not good; they were not balanced. Among them, some were for Peter, others for Paul, and others for Apollos.
They were not balanced, and therefore there were divisions among them. The Lord’s character is a character of balance. He does not go to extremes.
Only when we have the character of Christ will we avoid going to extremes. The Lord can cause us to have a balanced spiritual life.
This is a very important character. If we do not have it, our emotions can influence us, benefits can influence us, and our relationships with others can influence us. We need a balanced character.
I often encourage brothers and sisters in the church that we should love all the brothers and sisters. Of course, those with whom we converse easily often become our friends, but we must be careful. Our natural emotions can go to extremes.
In our fellowship in Seattle, we often announce after the meeting that, when we have lunch together, we should speak with those whom we do not normally speak with.
No matter how many times we announce this, after the meeting those who normally sit together still sit together. To do something for the sake of balance is very difficult. We need the character of Christ.
The fifth point is that the Lord’s character is closely guarded. There is something guarded in His character.
When the Lord followed the leading of the Holy Spirit, if God told Him to speak, He spoke. If God did not tell Him to say anything, He did not say anything. In His life there was a guardedness.
Please do not misunderstand. This guarding is not because He was cold or without feeling. It is a high standard of character, and it is a natural expression of spiritual life.
Very often in our lives, we encounter many difficulties and problems because our life is too loose. Looseness in our character is a great problem.
Some of you have heard of Watchman Nee’s book The Flow and the Leak. It tells us that many blessings in our spiritual life flow away because we are loose.
Life comes in, but it leaks out. We cannot contain the blessing of God. This is caused by looseness in our character.
This looseness causes us to lose light. Throughout our lives, we will not have good results if we remain loose. God cannot use a person who is loose, and we lose many opportunities for blessing.
According to our experience and understanding, a good character contains these five points:
This truly is the will of God. God wants to build the character of Christ into us. This is the blessing of every one of us, brothers and sisters.
No matter how bad our natural character may be, today we have a glorious hope, because God wants to work in our lives. He wants to build the character of His Son in us.
In church history, we see many brothers and sisters who did not seem to have great gifts. They did not have high education, great power, or outward ability. Yet they had the character of Christ.
Because they had the character of Christ, they brought blessing to themselves, to their families, to the people around them, and to the church.
Today, we need to allow God to work in our lives. If we have willingness in our heart, God can fulfill His work.
I will not give my own testimony any longer, because I want to leave time for the brothers and sisters. We still have twenty minutes. If each person takes no more than five minutes, at least four people can share.
Please keep the time. Do not come up and take other people’s time. Bring out the main point quickly. Anybody? This sister will go first.
My name is Deborah. First, I have to introduce my family, because they help me very much. I have a husband, Brother Jang, and a son named Daniel. I also have two daughters, Praise and Glory.
When I was in Taiwan, I was a basketball player. In the basketball team, we developed a certain kind of character. One character I developed was that I easily lost my temper. I had an explosive temperament, and I was also very stubborn.
I thank the Lord because He gave me a husband who loves Him very much, and He gave me these three children.
When my two older children were in elementary school, I gave each of them a key so that they could come home by themselves, because we often were not at home.
One time, I saw that the screen window had fallen onto the floor. They told me they had forgotten their key, so they had come in through the window.
I told them, “Next time, do not do this again. If other people see you do this, they may do the same thing.”
A few days later, I saw the screen window had fallen down again. I called my children over and asked, “Did you crawl through the window again?” They said, “Yes.”
My temper flared up, and I yelled at them. We were standing by the dining room window. Their Chinese names mean “Praise” and “Glory,” so I said, “Praise, Praise! Glory, Glory! How can you do this?”
While I was losing my temper, the Holy Spirit spoke to me. He said, “You keep saying, ‘Glory, glory,’ and ‘Praise, praise.’ How can you be angry?”
When I sensed this, I apologized to the Lord that I should not have lost my temper. Then I told my children, “Although you did not do what was right, Mother losing her temper is not right either. Please forgive me.”
My children also apologized to me. They said that they would not crawl through the window anymore.
Through Praise and Glory, the Lord took away my temper. Even now, though they are in college, I no longer pound on the table and scream at them.
I first need to apologize because my Mandarin is not very good. Someone once told me that I looked like Brother Sun, not only outwardly but also because my character was somewhat like his.
One point in my character is that I do not like to stand before people and speak. But God is amazing: He raises up many circumstances and pushes me to the front.
When God wants to train you, He raises up circumstances. Although I do not like speaking much before people, God wants me to have more opportunities to speak and to share His work with others.
Therefore, we should not be afraid when we are placed in circumstances through which the Lord can train us.
There is another point. Since I was very young, many people have said that I am a good person, that I do not have much temper, and that I have much patience. I thought so too—until I had a child.
As my child grew, one day he was naughty and made some mistakes. I do not know where it came from, but my temper came out, and I scolded him loudly.
My wife reminded me, “Why are you so mean to him? He is only a child. You are not like this when you are with a gospel friend or with brothers and sisters. You can treat your child as a gospel friend.”
She truly reminded me. Of course, I love my child and want him to grow. I thought I was teaching him. But God taught me to have a softened heart when teaching him and not to be so harsh.
Even now, I still need to learn this lesson. Sometimes I am still harsh in the way I speak to him, but I have stopped hitting him. Thank the Lord.
I want to fellowship concerning the point our brother mentioned: the character of Christ is willing to change and willing to give, because it is more blessed to give than to receive.
My natural inclination is to give. After I was saved, we received much mail asking for offerings. I would send offerings, but many older brothers and sisters told me, “You do not know what organization they are from. You do not need to give to them.”
In 1997, the Lord gave me a burden to help those in mainland China. In 2003, I lost my job.
I felt that I loved to give, but I wondered why this did not seem like a blessing. I had been told that if you give, even in this life you will receive many blessings in return.
When I lost my job, my mother was in poor health, so I sometimes went to care for her. My mother told me, “You should not go and help other people anymore. Why do they not send someone else? Why do they only send you?”
I told her that this was the burden the Lord had given me. Then she said, “If you love the Lord so much and love to give, why does the Lord not give you a job?”
At that time, I had bitterness in my heart. I did not know how to answer her.
During the time when I had lost my job, many coworkers prayed with me. They told me not to look at myself but to believe that God would find me a job. In actuality, I still do not have a job now.
But one brother prayed this way: “Since God has not given you a job, He has allowed you to have time to serve the Lord. I also believe that God will bless your wife and your children.”
During the past four years, I have truly seen that God has blessed my wife and my children. I now truly feel that giving is better than receiving. He has not only supplied my living, but He has also given me the burden to continue going to China.
I am sorry that I have already spoken twice. After my first fellowship, I felt that I needed to give some explanation.
I told the brothers and sisters that I have a character of being too detail-oriented and also too soft. A brother came to me and asked, “Next time, when the deadline comes, does that mean it is absolute?”
Another brother told me that because I am detail-oriented, I could organize the registration and the conference well. A sister who is an architect said that without attention to detail, one could not build a good building.
The brothers and sisters seemed concerned that I would throw away my detail orientation and my softness. But I will not lose these things; they need to go through the cross so that the Lord can change them.
The main point is that when I work with brothers and sisters, I need to consider other people’s condition and not cause pain to them. For the testimony of oneness and the testimony of loving one another, we may need to lower our standard.
In 1998, I was in charge of the WCCC conference. Some brothers suggested that the local brothers and sisters did not need to register, but could simply go to local motels or hotels.
I thought that if a few hundred brothers and sisters did not register, it would create much confusion. I insisted that they register. But the other brothers also agreed that registration was unnecessary.
I became agitated. When I became agitated, everything became difficult. During that conference, I lost my joy, and we could see that the Lord did not have much blessing.
This matter remained in my heart. Then, in 2004, we again hosted the WCCC. A younger brother, who had only recently believed in the Lord, was placed by the Lord to work with me.
I saw that he was willing to submit in everything. No matter what I asked of him, he had nothing else to say. After that conference, the Lord spoke to my heart and told me that I needed to submit wholeheartedly to Brother Sun.
I began to realize that this was a solemn matter. Our whole problem is that we do not submit. Through these two conferences, the Lord worked in my heart and allowed me to submit to authority that I could see, so that I could express submission to authority that I could not see.
In this way, the building up of the Body of Christ can have true order.
Before I began to serve, the Lord told me, “Wait. I will prepare a brother for you. He has gone along the way you need to go, and I will use him to lead you.”
At that time, I bowed before the Lord and decided that, whatever the circumstances, I would submit to my brother. Through this kind of submission, we can manifest the condition of submission to authority.
I want to take this opportunity to apologize officially to Brother Sun. It has already been nine years. I thank the Lord that our brother has borne with me.
I believe that submission in this way is full of blessing. A sister once said that our fellowship is so good: God gave Brother Sun to us like a father, and He gave me to them like a mother. In our house, we have father and mother.
My character is very different from Brother Sun’s character. But when the Lord puts us together to work, we need the work of the cross.
I truly thank the Lord for bringing me into this learning and this fellowship. For participating in the testimony of the oneness of the Body of Christ, I will forever give the Lord thanks. Although I have not done well, the willingness to submit is already in my heart. I want to encourage one another.
The brother’s fellowship was beyond my expectation. I do not have time to explain further. Let us bow our heads and give thanks to the Lord.
Lord, we give You thanks from our hearts. You love each one of us. All those whom You have chosen, You love to the uttermost.
Although in past days we have submitted so slowly, You have not given up on us, because Your calling is without repentance. This truly is a great grace, and our hearts are full of thanksgiving.
We know that we do not have many days on earth to follow You, because You are returning quickly. May we obtain the small opportunities that remain and accept the work You have upon us, so that our character may be changed more.
May Your likeness be manifested in us, so that our testimony on earth may cause people to see the beauty of the Lord. Lord, bless Your church. Bless Your people.
At this time, we give You all worship, love, and thanksgiving. Hear our prayer in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ.