By Xinming, Canada
Seeing God’s Wonderful Deeds in the Preaching of the Gospel
A few days later, a sister and I went to preach the gospel to her friend. In our conversation, I found she cared little for belief. Seeing her attitude, I thought: “Won’t we come in vain today?” But then I thought: “Isn’t this making demands of God? No matter what the result is, I am willing to obey God’s orchestration and arrangement.” Just at that point, her phone rang. She answered the video call, and then said to us: “This is my friend, Sister Sun. She believes in the Lord.” During our video chat, Sister Sun told us that she saw the pastors and elders in the church had nothing to preach; the believers were all weak in spirit and had no faith. She felt that the church had no presence of God, so she had been looking for the church with the Holy Spirit’s work. I felt that Sister Sun was a true believer in the Lord and a seeker of the truth, so we exchanged our phone numbers. On my way home, I was very happy. I knew this was God’s arrangement; God had heard my prayers, so He prepared a gospel target for me.
The next day, I brought the matter before God that I wanted to preach the gospel to Sister Sun, and prayed: “O God! Thank You for Your preparation and arrangement. I want to preach the gospel to Sister Sun, but I have no idea whether she would like to seek and investigate. May You lead and guide me.” After my prayer, I phoned Sister Sun and invited her to have a face-to-face talk on the next day. What I didn’t expect was that she agreed readily. After I hung up, I kept thanking God and felt that it was God’s deed. Just as God’s word says: “Of everything that occurs in the universe, there is nothing that I do not have the final say in. What exists that is not in My hands? All that I say goes, and among men, who is there who can change My mind? Could it be the covenant I made on the earth? Nothing can hinder My plan; I am ever-present in My work as well as in the plan of My management. What man can interfere?” That’s true. All things are in God’s hand. Sister Sun’s mind is also under God’s control; I am just a vessel that cooperates with God. Meanwhile, I saw God is practical and by my side, and that as long as we truly rely on God and call to God, God will open a way out for us. Thanks be to God!
The next day, when I met Sister Sun, she said happily: “I specially bought a new dress and wore it to meet you.” As she spoke, she pointed at her new clothes. Then Sister Sun took out a banana and shared it with me, saying: “Let’s be friends.” I was moved a lot by her words. I never thought Sister Sun would be so enthusiastic. We looked at each other and smiled. Subsequently, she shared her experience of her faith in the Lord: In order to earn money to pay for her husband’s treatment, she came abroad alone. Facing various difficulties, she relied on the Lord, and went through them under the Lord’s leadership. She also wrote down how the Lord led her every day, and her thoughts and feelings about this. Hearing Sister Sun’s experience, I prayed to God silently and asked God to guide me. Later on, I shared some of my experiences and asked her: “Sister Sun, do you think we have been sanctified from the world and are sinless?” “No, I still live in the bondage of sin; I also can’t practice what I read in the Bible. But the preachers don’t tell us how to cast off our sin. Could you tell me about it?” said Sister Sun. Whereupon, I invited her to attend our meeting, and she agreed with pleasure.
At our meeting, about Sister Sun’s questions, Sister Liu read two passages of God’s word: “Though Jesus did much work among man, He only completed the redemption of all mankind and became man’s sin offering, and did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to take on the sins of man as the sin offering, but also required God to do greater work to completely rid man of his disposition, which has been corrupted by Satan. And so, after man was forgiven his sins, God has returned to flesh to lead man into the new age, and begun the work of chastisement and judgment, and this work has brought man into a higher realm. All those who submit under His dominion shall enjoy higher truth and receive greater blessings. They shall truly live in the light, and shall gain the truth, the way, and the life.”
The sins of man could be forgiven through the sin offering, but as for just how man can be made to sin no more, and how his sinful nature may be extirpated completely and transformed, he has no way of solving this problem. The sins of man were forgiven, and this is because of the work of God’s crucifixion, but man continued to live within the corrupt satanic disposition of old. This being so, man must be completely saved from his corrupt satanic disposition, so that his sinful nature may be completely extirpated, never to develop again, thus enabling the disposition of man to be transformed. This would require man to grasp the path of growth in life, to grasp the way of life, and to grasp the way to change his disposition. Furthermore, it would require man to act in accordance with this path, so that his disposition may gradually be changed and he may live under the shining of the light, so that all that he does may be in accord with the will of God, so that he may cast away his corrupt satanic disposition, and so that he may break free from Satan’s influence of darkness, thereby emerging fully from sin. Only then will man receive complete salvation. … Therefore, after that stage of work was finished, there still remained the work of judgment and chastisement. This stage is to make man pure by means of the word and thereby give him a path to follow. … This stage is more meaningful than the previous one, as well as more fruitful, for now it is the word that directly supplies man’s life and enables the disposition of man to be completely renewed; it is a much more thorough stage of work. Therefore, the incarnation in the last days has completed the significance of God’s incarnation and completely finished God’s plan of management for man’s salvation.
Sister Liu fellowshiped, “God’s word says clearly. Because the Lord Jesus has redeemed us from sin, so long as we accept the Lord Jesus as our Savior and pray in the Lord’s name, we can enjoy the abundant grace the Lord gives us. However, the sinful nature in us is still not absolutely resolved, so we often live in the condition of sinning and confessing, and involuntarily resisting God. For example: We often disobey the Lord’s teachings, follow our fleshly desire to sin, intrigue with each other, give in to vanity, lust for wealth, follow evil worldly trends, and so on. When God’s work doesn’t accord with our conceptions, we judge and condemn God’s work. While we are following God, we can still adore and follow people. … So, the purpose of God doing the work of judgment and chastisement in the last days is to completely purify and save us corrupt mankind.”
Then, Sister Yang began to fellowship: “In the last days, according to our needs, the incarnate God expresses all the truth for man to be saved, reveals to us God’s righteous disposition that is intolerant of man’s offense. God expresses word and completely exposes our essence of nature and the truth of our corruption. Only after we experience the judgment and chastisement of God’s word, can we come to see our arrogant and conceited, selfish and base nature of Satan in the way that when God’s work is not in line with our notions, we are able to confine and judge God, and we absolutely can’t obey God. Only in the judgment and exposure of God’s word, can we see we are deeply corrupted by Satan, without any conscience or reason, so we have to fall down before God to repent and hate ourselves. And only in the judgment and chastisement of God’s word, can we truly experience that the disposition of God allows no offense, and can we produce the heart of fearing God, and understand God’s kind intentions of saving man. The reason that God judges and chastises us is precisely to save us, and let us cast away our satanic corrupt disposition and be gained by God.”
I replied: “That’s right. We still have much corruption, and indeed need God to do the judgment and purification work. Only by accepting the judgment and chastisement of God’s word, can we know our corrupt nature, and distinguish what the positive things are and what the negative things are. After practicing according to God’s words, we gradually break away from the bondage of our satanic, corrupt disposition, and thus be purified, and live in the light. In the last days, Almighty God’s work of judgment starting from the house of God, is precisely our needs.”
After hearing our fellowship, Sister Sun said happily: “Your fellowship is so good. This time I finally found the way of resolving my sinful nature.”
Through having meetings and reading God’s word, we had more understanding and knowledge about God’s judgment and purification work, and saw that we humans really are in pain and weary living in the bondage of sin. I felt preaching the gospel is a profound commission, and that the gospel is all mankind’s needs. Sister Sun also understood that only God’s judgment work of the last days can completely eliminate man’s sin; she felt that God’s word has so much authority. Through several meetings, Sister Sun was willing to accept God’s work of the last days. Seeing Sister Sun was able to recognize the voice of God and returned before God, I knew all of this resulted from God’s work and His leadership, and I was merely cooperating with Him. At the same time, I also had more confidence to preach the gospel, and was willing to do my best to perform my duty of preaching the gospel. Since I believed: As long as we rely on God, we will see His wonderful deeds. Just as God’s word says: “You must have faith that everything is in God’s hands, and that humans are merely coordinating with Him. If you are sincere, God will see it and He will open up all paths for you, making difficulties no longer difficult. You must be confident in this. Therefore, you needn’t worry about anything. As long as you use all your strength and use all your heart, God will not make things difficult for you or force you to do what you’re not capable of.” When I didn’t live in difficulties but relied on and looked up to God in everything, I continuously preached the gospel to seven brothers and sisters. And through seeking and investigating Almighty God’s work of the last days, they all accepted God’s salvation.
Preaching the gospel brought me a lot of gains. In the course of it, I once failed and encountered difficulties; especially when I encountered the frantic hindrance and blockade of the pastors and elders, I was once weak and negative, and discouraged. But God was always by my side, He helped me to equip me with the truth of all aspects under the comfort of His word and the help of brothers and sisters, so that I could understand His will in the setbacks and failures and have the confidence to go on preaching the gospel and testifying God. During the process of preaching the gospel, when I prayed and relied on God, I saw God’s wonderful deeds and God’s authority and power; I also saw there is nothing that God can’t do. Therefore, all we need to do is rely on God and cooperate with God, and God will lead us. In the end, God’s sheep will surely return back to God’s family, and this can’t be hindered by any force. All the glory be to Almighty God.
The End.
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