What It Means to Pursue the Truth (16) Part One
We have been primarily fellowshiping on and dissecting the essence of the various sayings concerning moral conduct, and dissecting the impact various sayings have on people. These various sayings concerning moral conduct mainly represent the differing degrees of effects traditional Chinese culture has on people, effects that persist to this day. Which saying concerning moral conduct did we fellowship on and expose at our last gathering? (Last time, God fellowshiped on and exposed the saying “A gentleman’s word is his bond.”) When we fellowship on sayings concerning moral conduct, we hit upon the issue of the general environment: No matter how the times change, or how our social environment changes, or how the political situation in any country changes, the corruption Satan engenders in mankind, in people’s thoughts and moral conduct, and in their innermost hearts through the various heresies and fallacies concerning moral conduct found in traditional culture becomes increasingly obvious. The impact on mankind caused by the perniciousness of traditional culture has not diminished due to the changing times and changes in living environment, and many people still cite and promote various sayings derived from traditional culture, revering it as Chinese traditional studies and as scripture. It is evident that Satan has planted the various sayings regarding moral conduct deep inside people’s hearts and corrupted people to the extreme. Why does Satan corrupt people? What is its ultimate goal in corrupting people? Is it aimed at mankind or at God? (God.) This is something you must understand in order to know Satan’s essence, and to know the root cause and process of Satan’s corruption of mankind. How are people’s thoughts corrupted by Satan? Why do people harbor such God-opposing things within their innermost hearts? Why do people harbor these things that run contrary to the truth? How did people get like this? Mankind was created by God, so why do people resist and rebel against God at every turn just as Satan does? What is the root cause? Can these questions be answered by what we discussed before? (Yes.) Think back and think about what we fellowshiped on last time. (God first fellowshiped on our current conditions. Even though we eat and drink God’s words, we basically have no discernment when it comes to the heresies and fallacies and thoughts and views Satan instills in us, and we can become the mouthpieces and lackeys of Satan at any time and in any place. God also fellowshiped on why Satan uses these heresies and fallacies to delude and corrupt people. Although it corrupts and harms people, Satan’s true objective is aimed at God. It wants to pull down and destroy God’s management plan. Because God’s management plan ultimately aims to save and perfect a group of people so they can be of one heart and mind with God, Satan tries to disrupt and obstruct these people from following God, from being made complete by God, and from being gained by God. God sees through Satan’s cunning schemes but does not stop Satan. Rather God uses Satan as a service object and a foil, for the wisdom of God is built upon the cunning schemes of Satan, and He does the work of cleansing and salvation on these people who have been corrupted by Satan. God reveals and dissects the various sayings of traditional culture to enable us to see clearly that Satan uses these heresies and fallacies to delude and corrupt people. God does this so that we can learn discernment and not just understand doctrinally that these heresies and fallacies are negative, but rather we can understand clearly what Satan’s cunning schemes are within these sayings. Once we have understood them clearly, we can then compare ourselves with them, reflect on ourselves in the light of God’s words, examine what satanic thoughts and ideas we have, what cunning schemes of Satan there are in the intent of our actions, and which satanic dispositions we reveal. This is what it is to truly know ourselves, and not just remain at the level of doctrinal understanding and simple discernment.) One of the ways in which Satan corrupts people is to corrupt their thoughts and hearts; it injects all manner of satanic thoughts, ideas, heresies and fallacies into people’s hearts and minds. Among them are the various sayings concerning moral conduct which represent the crème de la crème of traditional Chinese culture—they are classic representations of traditional Chinese culture. These thoughts and views of traditional culture basically represent the thoughts of Satan, the essence of Satan, and they represent the things of Satan’s nature which defy God. What is the final consequence of Satan using these things to corrupt people? (It sets people against God.) The consequence is that people are set against God. And what do people become? (They become the mouthpieces and lackeys of Satan. They become living Satans.) People become the mouthpieces of Satan, the embodiment of Satan, and corrupted mankind comes to represent Satan. The intents, purposes, thoughts, and ideas carried in the words corrupted mankind speaks and the corrupt dispositions they reveal are those which are expressed and revealed by Satan. This entirely verifies that mankind’s rules for living and their various thoughts and views by which they conduct themselves and interact with others all hail from Satan and all represent Satan’s nature essence; it entirely verifies that corrupted mankind alive is the embodiment of Satan, the progeny of Satan, and of a kind with Satan; it entirely verifies that corrupted mankind alive is a living Satan, a living devil, and that mankind, which has become the embodiment of Satan, is the representative of Satan. Whether mankind is Satan’s progeny or the embodiment of Satan, in any case it is of a kind with Satan, and to God, a mankind like this is a mankind which denies and betrays God, it is the enemy of God, and the opposing force to God. A mankind like this is no longer the blank-slate-minded, ignorant created mankind it was in the beginning. Mankind lives under Satan’s influence and is full of satanic corrupt dispositions, and what is it that mankind, which lives in this kind of state and condition, needs? It needs the salvation of God. Now it is the time when God uses words to save people. What is the context within which God saves people? It is that Satan’s corruption of mankind has reached the most profound and severe level; it has completely turned people into the embodiment and mouthpieces of Satan, and people have become the enemies of God and have come to be in opposition to God. Within this context, God has begun His work to save mankind. This is the real situation regarding Satan’s corruption of people, and it is the actual context to God expressing the truth and performing the work of judgment to save man in the last days. What are the benefits of knowing these actualities? It enables people to know their own essence, to know Satan’s essence, to know the means by which Satan corrupts people, and to know Satan’s wickedness; it also enables people to know the purpose of God’s management plan, as well as to know the almightiness, the authority, the wisdom, and the power of God He reveals in His work to save mankind. Besides having to recognize what Satan’s essence and wickedness and corrupted mankind’s nature essence are like, what is important is that people must know God’s work, God’s disposition, and God’s essence. Knowing God’s essence primarily involves knowing God’s almightiness, authority, wisdom, and power—it mainly involves knowing these aspects of His essence.
From the perspective of the context of God working to save mankind, this mankind which God wishes to save is not a mankind He has only just created, but rather it is a mankind which Satan has been corrupting for several thousand years. Man’s innermost hearts are not blank slates, nor are man’s thoughts or dispositions, but rather they have long been deeply corrupted by Satan. Those which God saves are created beings which have been deeply corrupted, seduced, controlled, manipulated, and trampled upon by Satan. As far as people are concerned, to remove or change the things of Satan and the satanic dispositions within this created mankind is incredibly difficult, or even impossible. That is to say, as far as people are concerned, to change their thoughts and views, to cleanse the things of Satan deep within their hearts, and to change their corrupt dispositions are all impossible tasks; it is just like that saying, “A leopard can’t change its spots.” Yet it is precisely in this context and with this created mankind that God wants to perform the work of saving mankind. In His work, God does not display any signs and wonders, nor does He openly show His real person, much less perform any work that may appear authoritative and powerful to people. Which is to say that in the last days, during the time in which God incarnate saves man, God does not display any signs and wonders, He does not perform any work that goes beyond the boundaries of practicality or reality, and He does not perform any deeds which surpass fleshly humanity. God does not perform such supernatural works, but rather He uses words to provide for people’s lives and to expose people and cleanse them of their corruption. Because He is only using words to perform this work, to man it looks even more so like an impossible task, and in most people’s eyes it even looks like a playful matter. People believe that by drawing upon utterances, utterances spoken in various ways, from various standpoints, and about various things, to provide for them and enable them to attain salvation, God is engaged in an impossible task. Satan in particular is even less convinced that this is something God is entirely capable of, that God has the power, the authority, and the wisdom to accomplish this work. It is evident that, in the eyes of created humans, God speaking His utterances and performing His work to save man is an impossible task. However, regardless of how things will go in the future, right now, that which is spoken of in God’s words, “God is as good as His word, and His word will be accomplished, and that which He accomplishes lasts forever,” has already been accomplished in those who follow Him, that is, most people have already had a foretaste of this. Judging from the way God works, from God performing the work of saving mankind only through the provision of words, the nutriment of words, the revelation of words, the chastisement and judgment of words, the chastening of words, the warning and prompting of words, and other ways, it is evident that God’s words do not just carry the simple meaning of words that can be understood by human notions. Apart from the fundamental saying that God’s words are the truth, what people are even more able to see, and which is factually evident, is that God’s words carry life and God’s words are life, that God can provide for the living of corrupted mankind and provide everything corrupted mankind needs for life. In terms of power and authority, God’s words can change mankind’s living conditions, change mankind’s thoughts and views, change man’s heart that has been deeply corrupted by Satan and, even more so, they can change the path and life direction mankind has chosen, and even change mankind’s outlook on life and values. As long as you accept and obey God’s words and, we can even say, as long as you love and pursue God’s words, then no matter what your caliber is like, or what the goal of your pursuit is, or how great your determination to pursue is, or how great your faith is, God’s words can definitely change you, enable your outlook on life and your values to change, enable your thoughts and your views on people and things to change, and ultimately enable your life disposition to change. Even though most people are of poor caliber and have no determination to pursue the truth, and they are even unwilling to pursue the truth, regardless of their circumstances, so long as they have heard God’s words, they come to have in their subconscious to a greater or lesser extent some correct views and perceptions from God’s teachings concerning Satan, the world, and mankind. They come to have in their subconscious a yearning and a thirst to differing degrees concerning positive things, concerning the truth principles and the correct direction and goals in life which God requires people to have. These phenomena which occur in and amongst people—whether they are what people want or not, whether they accord with people’s notions or not, whether they meet God’s requirements and standards or not, and so on—all these effects on people and all these phenomena show that not only can God’s words provide for people’s lives and provide them with what they need but, more importantly, God’s words cannot be changed by any force. Why do I say this? Because God’s words carry authority, and the authority of God’s words cannot be transcended by any worldly theory, philosophy, or knowledge, or any argument, thought, or view—this is the real meaning of God’s words carrying authority, and this is clearly exhibited in all those who follow God. God’s words carry authority and can change mankind’s hearts and thoughts. More importantly, they can cleanse and dispel the corrupt dispositions Satan has planted deep inside people’s innermost hearts—this is the power of God’s words. There is, of course, something else, which is that people ought to know God’s wisdom. God’s wisdom pours out in every bit of His work. Not only within and between the lines of the words God utters, but also in the way God speaks, the things He says, the standpoints He takes in His utterances, and even in the tone of His speech, God’s wisdom can be seen in all. In what aspects is God’s wisdom manifested? One aspect is that God’s wisdom can be seen in every word He speaks, and in the manifold ways He speaks is His wisdom displayed; another aspect is that God’s wisdom can be seen in all the various ways He works in people, and it can be seen also in those who follow God whom He leads. So of course, we can say that God’s wisdom pours out in His words, and also that it pours out in His work. Besides God’s wisdom being visible to people in His words, people can also come to have a deep appreciation for it in the different environments and situations of the various issues they encounter. God’s words allow people to receive the corresponding provision at any time and place. God can help you at any time and place, support you and provide for you at any time and place, enable you to leave behind your negative state at any time and place, and make you strong and no longer weak. At any time and place, God can change your ideas and the way you think, enable you to let go of things you believe to be right and the things of Satan, cast off your corrupt dispositions, repent to God, act and practice in accordance with God’s requirements and God’s words. This is one aspect. Furthermore, God works in many different ways in all those who follow Him, who love God’s words and love the truth. Sometimes He bestows grace, and sometimes He bestows light and revelation. Of course, sometimes God will chasten and discipline people to get them to mend their ways, to get them to feel self-reproach in their innermost hearts, to feel truly indebted to God, to feel remorse, to repent, and thereby to relinquish the evil they do and no longer rebel against God, no longer act as they wish or follow Satan, but rather practice in accordance with the path God has shown them. God’s work is accomplished in man. To be precise, the work of the Holy Spirit is accomplished in man, and the Holy Spirit works in the majority of people in different ways. Of course, regardless of the way in which the Holy Spirit works, everyone can experience the different ways the Holy Spirit works to a greater or lesser extent. From this we can see that the Holy Spirit’s work and God’s work, whether they are performed in many ways or in one, can both enable people to appreciate that God’s work is a help to man and what man needs at all times and in all places. The Holy Spirit can work and provide for people at all times and in all places. He is not restricted by space, geographic location, or time, nor does He throw people’s normal life routines into disorder or disturb people’s thoughts, much less does He destroy any rule God has prescribed for mankind. The Holy Spirit just quietly works on every single person, using words to clearly notify, teach, enlighten, and guide them, while also using different methods to work on them, enabling them to naturally and unknowingly come to live under the provision of God’s words. Of course, in the wake of God’s work and the work of the Holy Spirit, people’s dispositions are changed and their thoughts are transformed without them being aware of it, and their faith in God gradually increases. In all these effects that are achieved in people, it must be said that these are done by the power of God’s words and the wisdom of God’s work. As far as those who now follow God are concerned, God uses His words to work and to lead and provide for them, and everyone has the right and the opportunity to enjoy these things. If those who followed God grew to be ten times, twenty times, or even a hundred times greater than the number who follow Him now, God would still be able to take care of them just the same, and He would still be able to complete this work. The effects that are achieved can never be altered, and this is the wisdom of God.
God’s words express all aspects of the truth and provide what is needed by all mankind. God uses all kinds of different working methods from different standpoints on people at different times and in different environments, to guide them without them being aware of it and to achieve different results on each person. Even if you now think, “I don’t understand much about God’s work and I’m still very weak now. I still have such little faith in God and my knowledge of God has not increased, either. My current attitude toward performing my duty seems to be lukewarm like it was before, and I feel like I haven’t progressed very far,” one thing is for certain: No matter how weak you are, or how far you feel you are from meeting God’s requirements, God’s words and work have already taken hold of your heart. Even if you’re not too interested in pursuing the truth, even if you still don’t regard the significance of attaining salvation as very important, the truth of God’s words and the content of the words God utters give you hope, and in your innermost heart you come to have expectations regarding God’s work and the facts God wants to accomplish. Regardless of how great your faith is now, or how your stature is, you surely have hope. What does this show? God’s words are what mankind needs, they provide what mankind needs, they have already taken hold of your heart, and you have unknowingly come to have a certain acceptance of God’s words in your innermost heart. Of course, these facts are directed toward those who are not very interested in the truth, and who have a relatively vague and unclear understanding of God’s work and salvation. For those who truly believe in God and can pursue the truth, this is not the only result that is achieved, but rather they can also come to know God and bear testimony for God. From these facts and indications, we can see that God’s utterances and work are imbued with the power, authority, and wisdom of God. This also verifies something else: Mankind was created by God, and although they can do without sunlight, without water, and without air, they cannot do without God, they cannot do without God’s words, and they cannot do without God’s provision. Only the guidance, provision, and shepherding of God and all the truths God expresses can give mankind hope and light, as well as goals and direction for its survival—these are things people have seen. By exposing and dissecting the true situation of Satan corrupting mankind in terms of moral conduct, people should be able to see what kind of context God works within to save people. Besides recognizing what the true situation of the context within which God works are like, people should even more so understand how difficult God’s work of saving mankind is, and through understanding how difficult this is, they should come to know the power, the authority, and the wisdom of God. In His work of saving mankind, God did not rush to save mankind when Satan first began to corrupt it. He did not rush to save mankind four thousand years ago, or six thousand years ago. Rather, He did things as they were meant to be done: Through mankind being seduced by the serpent and corrupted by Satan, it became steeped in sin, and the earth was destroyed by flood. God then used the law to gradually lead mankind and, as Satan’s corruption of man grew gradually deeper, God performed the work of redeeming mankind by taking upon Himself the likeness of sinful flesh and being crucified. Now, in the last days, when mankind has been corrupted by Satan so much that people have been terribly ravaged by it and have become entirely the representation of Satan, God formally and openly expresses His words to mankind, and He expresses what is in His heart, His views and attitudes regarding all manner of people, events, and things, and all the truths mankind needs. Against this kind of background, God begins formally to provide that which mankind needs—He does not provide mankind with all the truths in a situation where mankind is totally ignorant. It is precisely when mankind has been deeply corrupted by Satan and when people believe there is no way they can be saved that God comes, speaks His words, performs His work, walks among man and expresses the words He wishes to express, while using only the provision of words to accomplish the facts He wishes to accomplish. No relatively capable person among created mankind dares take up the challenge to do this work, as people believe it to be a considerably difficult work, a work that is impossible to accomplish. Yet it is in precisely this context that God launches this work of His six-thousand-year management plan, a work which uses words to accomplish all things. This is a huge undertaking, an unprecedented work, more so it is an epoch-making work, and a long-protracted work. No matter how much someone says or what they say or what the essence of their words is, no one is capable of accomplishing the deeds their words aim to achieve. Only the words of God can be fulfilled, and only the words of God can be accomplished in accordance with what God requires and the plans of His thought—this is also God’s authority. Shouldn’t people understand these things? (Yes, they should.) So, what is the significance of understanding these things? Who will speak? (One aspect is that people can come to have some understanding of the wisdom of God’s work and understand that God’s work is not performed on those ignorant people who haven’t been corrupted by Satan. Instead, God uses Satan in His service and performs the work of salvation on those who have been deeply corrupted by Satan. People believe this work to be very difficult, yet God’s words really do have an effect on people. Moreover, normally in the course of our experiences, we are often constrained by our corrupt dispositions and cannot help but reveal corruption, we become unable to practice the truth, and sometimes we can become so negative that we lose our faith. However, after we hear God’s fellowship, we come to have faith in God’s words and understand that our corrupt dispositions can change so long as we love and accept the truth and that our corrupt dispositions are not immutable. If someone does not love or accept the truth in their essence, then they will be unable to change their corrupt dispositions.) What you say is entirely appropriate and accurate.
God’s words can accomplish all things and change all things. At the same time, people should be able to see that God’s words have another effect on them—all things must pass away, only God’s words will never pass away, and just like God Himself, God’s words will live forever. What do we see from this? (We see God’s authority.) We see God’s authority, God’s wisdom, and we see the power displayed in His words. Because God’s words represent His life, essence, and disposition, they will live forever just as God will. What does this tell you? It tells you that God’s words are so important to mankind. No matter what you obtain, it’s not a real treasure. Whether you receive a gold ingot or a rare and precious jewel of the world, they’re not real treasures. Even if you get the elixir of life, it’s not worth a dime. Even if you succeed in practicing self-cultivation and fly up to heaven, you will not necessarily live forever, and that is because you are a created being, everything is predestined by God, and no one can escape God’s sovereignty. All things must pass away, only God’s words will never pass away, and just like God Himself, God’s words will live forever. What’s the use of knowing these words? If you don’t pursue the truth and have no love for the truth or for God’s fairness and righteousness, you may not be interested in these words or this fact. If, however, you love God’s fairness and righteousness, you love the truth, and you love positive things, then you will develop a deep interest in these words and thereby will etch this fact and these words deep within your heart. What are these words? All things must pass away, only God’s words will never pass away, and just like God Himself, God’s words will live forever. You must keep these words in your hearts and contemplate them in your spare time. These words are so very important. Tell Me, what do you gain from them? (God, I understand something. God’s words say, “All things must pass away, only God’s words will never pass away.” Sometimes things change in the outside world, and when we encounter such circumstances, our state will change and our determination to follow God will change as well. It becomes difficult for us to avoid feeling negative and weak, but when we think of these words of God and of the promises God made to us in the beginning, and that God said He wants to gain a group of people who are of one heart and mind with Him, strength and faith flood our hearts. We are no longer affected by circumstances in the outside world, and we have faith to follow God and perform our duties.) These words give you a path of practice—what kind of path of practice? It is not to pursue or cherish anything in the material world; these things are empty. All such things as fame, gain, position, material enjoyments before your eyes, the beauty of women, and the identity and status of men are transitory, gone in the blink of an eye, and it is pointless to cherish these things. What do I mean by saying it is pointless? I mean that these things can only satisfy the momentary needs, predilections and desires of your flesh, or your moods and affections, and so on, yet they cannot satisfy your spiritual needs. When your spirit feels hungry, thirsty, and empty, nothing in the material world can satisfy your spiritual needs or fill the emptiness in your innermost heart, and that is why pursuing these things is pointless. So, what can satisfy you and fill the emptiness in your innermost heart? When you read God’s words and understand the truth, then your innermost heart is replenished and enjoys peace and joy, and your heart feels satisfied and at ease. If you continue to pursue in this way, then when God’s words become your life, no one can take your life from you and no one can destroy it. When no one can take your life from you or destroy it, what will you then feel? You will no longer feel empty, you will no longer feel lost, fearful, or uneasy living in this world, for you will have God’s words within you, guiding you, providing for you, enabling you to live with purpose and direction. You will live every day with a sense of meaning and value. This is what people really feel. So how is this positive result which people really feel achieved? (It’s achieved in people by God’s words when they put His words into practice.) That’s right, once people accept God’s words as their life, this result is achieved in them; their life is changed, the way they live is changed, their views on people and things are different, the way they see people and things is different, and so their pursuit is different. They no longer pursue those fleshly enjoyments, material rewards, or fame, gain, and position. Pursuing the things of one’s fleshly predilections can only make one feel increasingly dull, empty, uneasy and in pain. Once God’s words have occupied one’s heart, however, the truth becomes their life within them, their inner essence and life are changed, and so they feel differently. Their feelings and predilections, their various emotions, their goals in life, the direction of their pursuit, and their rules for living are all completely different. Their pursuit is changed, they can pursue the truth and seek to know God, and they become able to live in accordance with the way God requires them to live. People who achieve this do not face decay, death, and destruction, but rather they come to have genuine life, a life that is not subject to decay. What do I mean when I say it is not subject to decay? I mean that this life within these people will not disappear, it will not fall away, it will not fade, and it will not deteriorate, and they will not face destruction as they did before. In this way, do their current state of existence and the prospects for their survival not change? It’s clear that their prospects for survival undergo a change. What is the reason why human life fades, withers, decays, has an end, and gets destroyed? It happens because people don’t have the words of God as their life, and whether someone lives a hundred years, or two hundred years, or three hundred years, or a thousand years, their rules for living, their outlook on life, and the meaning of their life will not change. So, what do people who live like this actually live for? They live entirely for the purpose of satisfying their flesh. What is pursued by the flesh of man? Such things as wealth, fame, gain, and material enjoyments, and it is precisely these things which, in God’s eyes, run contrary to the truth, and which God detests. There is therefore a time limit on God permitting people to pursue and enjoy these things. One life of man can last sixty- or seventy-odd, eighty- or ninety-odd years and then it ends, and for every end there is a new round of rebirth, and this is how the lifespan of man comes about. If God didn’t predetermine this time limit, wouldn’t people get sick of living after being alive for a long time? When people are in their twenties, every day they feel that things are fresh, beautiful, and happy; when they get to their forties, they feel that eating three meals a day and going to sleep at night is a boring way to live; by the time they get to their sixties, they feel as though they understand everything, and they have enjoyed some blessings, suffered some hardships, and they feel that nothing is interesting anymore. They set about their work every day when the sun comes up and rest when the sun goes down, and the day is gone in the blink of an eye. Their every bodily function begins to decline, completely different from when they were in their twenties—this is when their end is near. When someone’s end is near, that doesn’t mean that their soul will end. It means that their flesh will soon come to an end. Ordinarily, people die when they get into their sixties, seventies or eighties, and those with a long lifespan can live to be over a hundred at most. There is a saying which goes “A person who’s lived too long grows tired of living—they’ve had enough of life.” When someone lives too long, they get sick of life, they don’t want to live anymore, and life becomes meaningless to them. Why do they feel that life is meaningless? There is a true situation here, and that is that people live in their flesh eating three meals a day and doing their daily chores, every day exactly the same as the day before, doing the same things, living the same life, and when they reach a certain point, people know these things through and through. They feel they’ve seen everything they should see, tasted everything they should taste, and experienced everything they should experience. They feel that this is just how life is, and they have nothing to hope for, nothing to look forward to, and that their life is empty and they will soon meet their end. Is this not the case? (It is.) This is how things are.
We just talked about the words “All things must pass away, only God’s words will never pass away, and just like God Himself, God’s words will live forever.” These words tell people the fact that God’s words are so very important to mankind, and they also tell people their goals and direction of practice, and that no pursuit of anything can be a substitute for man gaining even one line of God’s words. This is because all things must pass away, and all things must fade, wither, and weaken over time, and only God’s words alone will never pass away. Therefore, if you gain God’s words and enter the reality of God’s words, meaning that you understand the truth and enter the truth reality, then you come to have value because of God’s words and the truth, and your essence becomes different to how it was before. Some people say, “So what if my essence is different?” I do not mean different in the ordinary sense, but rather it becomes tremendously different, for you come to have God’s words as your life, and just like God’s words you will not pass away, just like God you will have eternal life, and you will have an eternal after, future, and destination. So now, by looking at what will happen in the future, are God’s words not important to man? (Yes, they are.) They are crucial! How should you pursue once you have understood that God’s words are important? What should you pursue that has value and meaning? Should you pursue exerting more effort, suffering more, paying a greater price, and running around more in the performance of your duty? Or should you study professional skills more, equip yourself with more doctrine and preach more? (None of those things.) Then what is most useful for you to pursue? You all know the answer, it’s as clear as crystal to you: The attainment of God’s words is the most valuable and meaningful pursuit. “All things must pass away, only God’s words will never pass away, and just like God Himself, God’s words will live forever.” Remember these words in your heart and you should not forget or discard them at any time. When you feel negative and weak, when you feel you have no hope, when tribulations come your way, when you are replaced in your duty, when you are pruned, when you suffer setbacks and failures, and when you are reprimanded and condemned; or else when you are riding on the crest of your success, when people hold you in high esteem and praise you wherever you go, and so on; at any time and in any situation, you must always think of these words and allow them to bring you before God and seek the provision of God’s words for you in this very moment, allow God’s words to help free you from your tribulations, resolve your difficulties, resolve the confusion in your innermost heart, turn you back from the wrong path you follow, and resolve your transgressions, your intransigence, your rebelliousness, and so on, and allow God’s words to solve every problem you face. These words are so useful to you! When you forget what your own responsibilities and duties are, when you forget what principles you should be keeping, when you forget what standpoint and perspective you should be taking and your own identity and status, think of these words. These words will bring you before God, they will bring you into God’s words, they will bring you to understand what God’s will is in this very moment, and they will bring you to take the correct standpoint, view, and perspective to regard yourself, to regard others, and to regard the events and environments you encounter. In this way, under the guidance of God and under the provision, enlightenment, and help of God’s words, no problem can stump you, and no problem can obstruct you from pursuing the truth and stop your onward steps. Isn’t this the path of practice? (It is.) The lesson you should learn now is not to grumble, complain, and adhere to rules, or to go looking for man’s approaches when you encounter issues, but rather to come before God and seek the truth, seek God’s help, allow God’s words to provide for you and resolve your every difficulty—this is the lesson you should learn. We will end our fellowship here on the topic of understanding God’s launching the most important work of His management plan against the backdrop of Satan’s profound corruption of mankind; in the end, it all comes down to God’s words. However we fellowship, I hope in the end that people can enter the truth reality of God’s words and not just settle for knowing how to preach words and doctrines, or study theological theory or engage in religious ceremonies every day. Entering the reality of God’s words is the most pressing lesson of life entry that people must learn.
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