Fellowship From the Brother Above – July 15, 2025 (Part Seven)

If a person wants to become a good leader, they must constantly reflect on themselves, “Was what I said and did today adulterated with my own will? Was the work I did today the primary work that God commissioned me to do? Was it critical to the work of God’s house? Was it fundamental work related to life entry? If not, I must change course and not do these things anymore. If all the work I do is critical, and I am fellowshipping on the very truths that God’s chosen people need to understand and the problems they need to resolve, then I am on the right track. I must focus on fundamental and critical work, and persist in fellowshipping the truth to resolve problems. I must know how to prioritize things. This way, the results of the church’s work will get better and better.” By doing this, you’ll be able to promptly resolve the problems that exist in the duties of God’s chosen people and fellowship the truth in a timely manner to resolve problems in the church’s work. This will allow various works to proceed smoothly and get increasingly good results. Then, you will be a leader who is up to standard. To become a leader who is up to standard, one must learn to constantly seek the truth and practice using the truth to resolve problems. This requires an actual process of experience. When the day comes that you understand the truth and possess reality, your fellowship on the truth will be clear, and you’ll be able to resolve more real problems. Then, your service will be completely in accordance with God’s intention. On what basis is service that is in accordance with God’s intention established? It is established on the basis of understanding the truth. Once people understand the truth, they can distinguish right from wrong and discern false leaders and antichrists. At this point, some people may be able to accept God’s commission. The Holy Spirit will be at work when they work, and they won’t be far from being used by Him. Although the Holy Spirit won’t openly testify to you, He will continually work in you. You’ll feel that every time you do your duty, you have the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment, illumination, guidance, and arrangements. Furthermore, every time you do your duty, you will reflect on yourself, “What did I say today that was not in line with the truth? Which came from my own will? Which went against the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment and illumination? Which of the things I said were just for the purpose of showing off and testifying to myself?” If you reflect like this after every fellowship on the truth and after completing your work, and eventually, you are able to promptly resolve the problems you discover, then you will reveal less and less corruption and rebelliousness, you will submit to the Holy Spirit more and more, and the results you achieve in your main work and substantive work will get better and better. In this way, the Holy Spirit will gradually begin to formally use you. So, is this easy for people to achieve? (No, it isn’t.) It can be achieved by pursuing the truth, but it can never be achieved without pursuing the truth. Therefore, achieving service to God that is up to standard and being used by the Holy Spirit is, in one sense, difficult, yet in another, easy. The key is whether you are on the right path and whether you can pursue the truth. So, are you willing to be used by the Holy Spirit? (We are.) There are many who are willing. There’s nothing wrong with this willingness. It shows a positive and enterprising spirit. As humans, we should seek to be in accordance with God’s intention. This is a proper pursuit, not an ambition or desire. Our pursuit of being used by God is not to achieve our own goals, but to satisfy God and follow His will. This is aligning your heart with God’s and this is what is right. So, are there any gender requirements for seeking to be used by God? Is there a rule that says, “Only men may seek this, and women may not”? (No.) There is no such rule. Whether you are male or female, as long as you are willing to seek, God gives you this opportunity. So, are there any age requirements for seeking to be used by God? (No.) This matter doesn’t depend on a person’s age. You can’t say, “Those who seek to be used by God must be over fifty. Young people aren’t suitable.” There’s no such rule. Some people are a bit young and immature, so they need to experience more of God’s work. Once they’ve experienced it to a certain point where they have understood the truth and gained some stature, the Holy Spirit can use them. Being used by the Holy Spirit requires this process. At first, the Holy Spirit cultivates and trains you. When you’ve been trained to a certain point and God sees that you have stature and are fit for His use, the Holy Spirit will then use you. Remember, don’t think that people used by the Holy Spirit are born perfect, that they never make mistakes, or even that they are born understanding the truth and only then can the Holy Spirit use them. If you think that, you are gravely mistaken. In fact, like all of you, I too am a member of the corrupt human race, and I too was deeply arrogant and self-righteous. I didn’t understand the truth at first, either. But the Holy Spirit performed much of the work of judgment and chastisement, of chastening and discipline on me, and only then did I come to understand some truths, cast off some of my corrupt dispositions, and come to submit somewhat to God. It was only then that the Holy Spirit began to use me. Therefore, in the initial stage when the Holy Spirit is training people, God doesn’t just provide constant enlightenment and illumination. He also uses situations to discipline, prune, temper, and refine people at all times, in order to resolve their notions and imaginings and transform their satanic dispositions. Only then can people gradually become fit for God’s use. Therefore, you must accept and submit to these situations. You cannot resist, evade, or try to escape them. If you encounter someone you don’t like, and you say, “They’re a beam in my eye, a thorn in my side. I have to kick them out and expel them,” is that okay? (No.) It’s wrong. This person has been arranged for you by God, and God wants you to learn a lesson. Once you’ve learned your lesson, God will naturally remove this situation in His own time. Don’t try to find a way out of it yourself. There are some people you can get rid of, like antichrists and evil people. For such people, we can just go right ahead and clear them out and expel them. But some people are lessons you are meant to learn. If you haven’t learned your lesson from them, God will not remove the situation you are in. It’s like a sister who marries a nonbelieving husband. Her performance of her duty is constantly hindered by her husband, and she has to endure his judgment, slander, and humiliation. After going through this for twenty years, she finally sees clearly that her husband is a devil. Once she has learned this lesson and passed the test, God removes her husband in His own time. Is this not the case? (It is.)

How many lessons do you think corrupt humanity must learn to attain salvation and be made perfect? There are so many lessons to learn. Speaking of this, let me tell you a little about Peter’s experience. Why talk about Peter’s experience? Because Peter walked the path of pursuing the truth and being perfected. If you want to walk Peter’s path, you must know how he experienced God’s work, what situations he went through, and how he was made perfect by God. Otherwise, you won’t be able to walk Peter’s path. When Peter was in his early teens going to middle school, he had a great thirst for the truth and always went to gatherings to listen to sermons. Gradually, he grew averse to what he was being taught in school, and so he gave up on his prospects and decided not to take the university entrance exams. His parents strongly disapproved of this, saying, “Our Peter is the smartest of all our children. We were counting on him to make a name for himself and bring honor to our family, so that he could provide for us in our old age. If he gives up on university, what kind of a future will he have?” His parents adamantly refused to let him follow God. But Peter didn’t listen to them. He said, “My mother and father are devils for standing in the way of my following God.” He then resolutely left home to follow God, preaching while fishing to support himself. You see, in following God, Peter first forsook his family and parents. When Peter was twenty, he heard the sermons of the Lord Jesus. He felt the Lord Jesus’ words were deeply practical and much better than the sermons in the religious world. The sermons in the religious world were nothing but hollow theories, and they weren’t practical at all. He was very willing to listen to the Lord’s sermons, and he took to heart every one of the Lord Jesus’ words and teachings, pondering them over and over, repeatedly seeking God’s intentions and requirements. He also paid special attention to practicing God’s words. In his thirties, he began to formally water the churches. During this time, he constantly aligned his heart with God’s, focusing on using his own actual experiences to supply the churches and lead people to enter into the Lord’s words. When he was fifty-three, God began the work of perfecting him. Although he suffered much through trials and refinement, his love for God grew ever more pure and real. Finally, at the age of sixty, he was crucified upside down for God, bearing a testimony of loving God to the utmost and submitting unto death. He was completely perfected by God. This is the process of Peter pursuing the truth and being perfected. So, tell me, why did God only begin the work of perfecting him when he was in his fifties? In the thirty-plus years from when he began following the Lord at twenty until he was in his fifties, why didn’t God do the work of making him perfect then? Who can see this matter clearly? (At that time, his stature wasn’t yet sufficient, and he couldn’t shoulder the work God was going to do to make him perfect. By his fifties, he had already experienced some situations, his humanity had matured in all aspects, and he had come to slightly understand some truths and some of God’s intentions. He had gained some stature, so God could do the work of making him perfect.) That’s right. So, from this fact, we can see that God needs to do preparatory work in a person before making them perfect. Isn’t that right? (Right.) This preparatory work often takes twenty to thirty years, at least a decade or more. Only when a person has gained a certain stature does God begin the work of making them perfect. So, some might ask, “Why does the work of making someone perfect require them to have a certain stature? Why can’t they bear this if their stature is small?” What’s going on here? (The work of making someone perfect means they need to undergo more judgment and chastisement, and suffer more. If a person’s stature is insufficient, it won’t be easy for them to stand firm when faced with judgment and chastisement. They will betray God and fall away, and this would bring shame upon God.) That’s right. What do we need to recognize? God’s work of perfecting people is done by constantly subjecting them to judgment, chastisement, trials, and refinement. You see, in his final seven years, Peter underwent hundreds of trials. How often was he facing trials? He faced a trial every ten to fifteen days. Is this not the case? (It is.) And what kind of trials was he facing? Could someone of small stature endure them? (No.) It’s not easy for someone without a certain stature to endure the trials by which God makes people perfect! Just like the trial that befell Job—if he hadn’t had a certain stature, could he have endured it? (No.) Also, if the Lord Jesus had been crucified when He was around twenty, could He have endured it? (No.) It wasn’t until He was thirty-three, when His humanity had fully matured and was sufficient to shoulder this heavy burden, that He was crucified. This is because the crucifixion was a fatal ordeal, and it also involved suffering all manner of mockery and humiliation: being made to wear a crown of thorns, being spat upon, and being whipped by soldiers, all while enduring daily torture. He had to go through all kinds of suffering. Without a certain stature, this would have been unbearable. Similarly, for God to make people perfect, people also need to suffer much through trials. These trials are the things that go against people’s notions the most, and they are different from the small trials people usually encounter. If people don’t have a certain stature, they can’t bear them, and they are likely to grumble and complain against God, and even betray Him. Do you understand now? (Yes.) Take the trial that came upon Job: All of a sudden, a band of robbers came and took away his property, and all his children died. Who could endure such a trial? If Job had encountered this trial when he was young, could he have endured it? (No.) It wasn’t until he was seventy that it was suitable for this trial to come upon him. So remember, the trials for being made perfect are not something an ordinary person can endure.

Christ of the last days—Almighty God—has appeared to do His work and He has expressed so many truths. Yet the evil forces of the great red dragon and the religious world condemn and resist Christ, fabricating a great deal of negative propaganda and rumors against Him. After hearing this negative propaganda, many people begin to doubt and deny God, and they are afraid to be certain that Almighty God is the incarnate Christ. They clearly see that Almighty God has expressed so many truths, so why can’t they be certain that Almighty God is the incarnate God? They even say, “No matter how many truths Almighty God expresses, there’s so much negative propaganda online that I can’t believe He is God.” They then refuse to accept God’s work. So when they are eliminated, who is to blame? They can only blame themselves. You don’t accept the incarnate Christ, and instead you just want the spiritual body of the Lord Jesus to appear and work. Can God’s work be based on your notions and imaginings? Some people say, “If the spiritual body of the Lord Jesus appeared and worked, wouldn’t people be free of notions? Wouldn’t this be easier to accept?” So why doesn’t God work that way? Why must He take on this ordinary flesh? Why must He take the form of a woman? Because this is what God decided to do, and this is the most meaningful and wisest thing to do. In His work, God is not afraid of the volume of negative propaganda. He is not afraid of being rejected and condemned by all of humanity. He is not afraid of the opposition from the entire religious world. He is not afraid of people’s many notions. He is not afraid of how many people don’t believe in Him. God fears none of these things. This is God’s wisdom and majesty. Is this not right? (It is.) Regarding how to welcome the Lord, the Lord Jesus gave the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. The wise virgins are able to seek the truth and accept God’s work no matter the circumstances, while the foolish virgins are easily misled and have difficulty accepting the truth. If you can discover the truth, hear God’s voice, and accept God’s work while under siege from so much negative propaganda and so many evil forces in the religious world, then you are a wise virgin. But some people, though they have clearly seen that the words expressed by Almighty God are the truth and have acknowledged that this is the true way, fall away and stop believing because of a slight piece of negative propaganda. These people are the foolish virgins. So, what makes the wise virgins wise, and the foolish virgins foolish? The wise virgins can stand firm no matter how much negative propaganda they hear. They firmly believe that the truths expressed by Almighty God are all God’s utterances and that they all come from God, and that if they don’t accept these truths and miss this chance to attain salvation, they will perish. If you have this understanding, then you are a wise virgin and a person of supreme wisdom. You see, some people say, “I cannot miss out on these truths expressed by Almighty God. If I don’t accept these truths, then even if I were to believe in religion for three thousand years, it would be useless and a waste of effort. If I accept these truths and pursue them for twenty or thirty years, I’ll be greatly blessed when I am made perfect!” What a remarkable statement! The person who says this is the wisest of virgins, and they value the truth above all else. As for those who do not know the incarnate God, they value human notions and imaginings, and baseless rumors and negative propaganda above all else, while holding the truth and God’s words in contempt. These are the most foolish of virgins. Is this not the case? (It is.) Some people have notions about Christ. They’re always studying whether Christ is ultimately man or God. One moment, they read God’s words and feel Christ is God, then the next, they see Christ’s ordinary and normal words, actions, and demeanor, and feel He is a man. They keep wavering back and forth. They waver like this for several years, until one day they understand the truth and clearly see that Christ is the embodiment of the truth, that without Christ, man can gain no truth, and that to leave Christ is to perish. Only then do they stop wavering. So, do you think it’s easy to see this matter clearly? (It’s impossible to see it clearly if you’ve believed for too short a time and don’t yet understand the truth.) How many years of experience is required? It’s impossible without at least ten years of experience. If you can see through to the fact that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life, then you have laid a foundation in the true way, and you are blessed. Those who have not yet recognized that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life have not yet laid a foundation in the true way. Are such people in danger? (Yes.) They are still in a dangerous time, because they have not yet recognized that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. They haven’t recognized that to leave Christ is to perish, that the day one leaves Christ is the day one moves toward destruction, and that to do so is the starting point of destruction. If you haven’t seen through to this matter, you are still adrift and liable to be scattered by the wind at any moment. If you have seen through to this matter, you have laid a foundation in the true way. Look at the churches around the world; there are always some who fall away after a period of time. Why do they fall away? After believing for several years, they still have no knowledge of Christ. They haven’t seen that no one but Christ can express the truth. They haven’t laid a foundation in the true way. If you can’t discover who can express the truth, can you attain salvation? Your desire to be saved would just be a fantasy and a daydream, wouldn’t it? Only God can express the truth to save man. If you can’t even see this clearly, yet you still think you understand the truth and know what it means to believe in God, then in reality, you know nothing at all, and you have not yet laid a foundation in the true way. Those who understand the truth and have laid a foundation in the true way are certain about Christ. They can recognize that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life, and that the day one leaves Christ is the day of their destruction and the time of their death. To betray Christ is to betray the Creator, and betraying the Creator is the greatest sin of a person’s life, and also their greatest tragedy. So no matter what negative propaganda they hear, they will not betray God or fall away. But some people who believe in God haven’t reached this level of understanding. They haven’t yet laid a foundation in the true way. Who knows when they might encounter a piece of negative propaganda and start to waver, beginning to live adrift, tossed by the wind and rain. They might just fall away. I tell you, if you truly fall away, your heart will become completely empty, you will have no peace or joy, and you will no longer be living on the rock, because when you have lost the truth and strayed from the source of the truth, you will be eliminated. Today, we live before God, eating and drinking the words of Christ every day, and only thus do we have peace and joy in our hearts. So where does our true peace and joy come from? It comes from Christ, from this practical God, the incarnate God. You have understood so many truths from Christ and gained true peace and joy, yet you remain uncertain about Christ. When you hear one piece of negative propaganda, you become negative. Is this not utterly foolish? (It is.)

Has what I’ve said been related to the questions we’re fellowshipping on today? (Yes.) So, are the topics I’ve been fellowshipping on more important, or are the questions you’ve raised more important? (Brother, the topics you have been fellowshipping on are more important.) These topics are important. They are issues related to visions. Although many of the questions you’ve raised also need to be resolved, if you lack clarity on visions and you always have doubts and notions about Christ, then failing to resolve this would simply be human foolishness. No matter what problems people have, they are actually caused by their stature being too small. What does it mean for one’s stature to be too small? (This means that one’s understanding of the truth is too shallow.) When one’s understanding of the truth is too shallow and limited—that’s what it means for one’s stature to be too small. When people’s stature is too small and their understanding of the truth is limited, there are many problems they can’t resolve. This means frequent fellowship on the truth is required. Once people understand the truth and their stature has grown, these problems will naturally cease to be problems. In the past, when I went to gatherings throughout mainland China, I’d have to stay in each county for a day or two before I could leave. Sometimes, after two days, people would still request, “No, you have to stay another day, we still have a lot of problems.” So I would have to stay another day. After one more day, everyone’s hearts would be illuminated and they’d feel strengthened. But after half a month, many new problems would appear, and I’d have to go and fellowship to resolve them. After another day of gathering, their hearts would be illuminated again, and the problems would be gone. In reality, I didn’t specifically resolve any of their problems. I just fellowshipped on the truth with them for a day, and all their problems disappeared. What was happening? (They were coming to understand the truths related to those problems.) When people understand the key truths, those problems naturally disappear. It’s just like when we first start believing, we all have many notions, imaginings, confusions, and problems, but later, by reading God’s words, our notions are resolved. By reading God’s words, our imaginings disappear and our problems are solved. You see, many of people’s notions, imaginings, confusions, and problems are resolved and disappear without them even realizing it, just by their reading God’s words every day. Is this not the case? (It is.) So, can the questions you’ve raised be resolved by reading God’s words? (They can.) These problems are quite simple. As long as you focus on reading God’s words and seeking the truth, they can definitely all be resolved.