Fellowship From the Brother Above – November 25, 2025 (Part One)

Today, I mainly want to fellowship with the leaders and workers of churches in various countries on how to do church work well, and what truth principles are involved in doing church work. The leaders and workers of the Church in the Philippines have recently started working independently, but they still find themselves at a loss when facing the various aspects of church work, and they do not know how to do this work well. What is the problem here? The most fundamental problem is that they do not understand the truth and so cannot see things clearly. Do you know what the main work of leaders and workers is? It is to lead God’s chosen people to live the church life. And what is the purpose of leading God’s chosen people to live the church life? It is to enable God’s chosen people, by leading them to eat and drink God’s words and experience God’s words, to cast off their corrupt dispositions and enter into the truth reality, to be able to submit to God’s work and submit to God’s sovereignty and arrangements, to be able to accept and practice the truth, and to ultimately be able to bear resounding testimony for God. If you can achieve these results in leading God’s chosen people to live the church life, then you will have fulfilled the main tasks of a leader and worker. Do you understand? (Yes.) Leading God’s chosen people to understand the truth and cast off their corrupt dispositions, to fulfill the duty of a created being, and to propagate God’s words and testify to God—these are the main tasks of leaders and workers, and their most fundamental work. So why is it that leaders and workers in some countries cannot do their work without the help and support of Chinese brothers and sisters? These people have believed in God for at least three to five years, so they should understand some truths. Many of them can even preach lots of spiritual doctrines, yet they do not know how to do church work. Is this not a problem? (It is.) Then what is the most fundamental and essential problem of those who do not know how to do church work? (They tend not to pursue the truth, nor do they focus on seeking truth principles, and they do not know how to use the truth to resolve problems.) These people only understand words and doctrines, but they do not understand the truth, and they do not know how to resolve the various problems in the church. This is the root cause of their inability to do church work. If a leader or worker does not know how to resolve the many problems that exist in the church, and they only know how to get brothers and sisters to sing, dance, and have fun every day, can such a person do church work well? (No.) I heard that some leaders and workers criticized such a person, saying that working in this way was wrong. Not only did this person not accept this, but they attacked those who offered suggestions, saying that they were unloving and that they were attacking and judging them. This was what they were capable of doing as a leader or worker. Tell me, should such a person be pruned? If you have not done your work well, is it not right for others to criticize you and expose your problems? (It is.) Regardless of which brother or sister a leader or worker discovers has not done their duty well or has revealed a corrupt disposition that disrupts and disturbs the work of God’s house, should they not expose them? (They should.) Is doing so unloving? (No, to do so is to act according to principles.) A leader or worker has not done their work well, yet they do not allow others to point out their problems, thinking that those who do are attacking and condemning them. Let’s think about this: What is the problem here? (They don’t accept the truth.) Then what path does a person who does not accept the truth walk when serving as a leader or worker? The path of an antichrist. No matter what mistakes such people make, how much corruption they reveal, or how many things they do that cause disruptions and disturbances, not only do they not reflect on themselves, but when others expose them, they get angry, do not accept what is being said in the slightest, and even condemn others as being unloving and as attacking and belittling them. Tell me, are the various forms of rebelliousness manifested by those who do not accept the truth—including vindicating themselves, making excuses, defiance, and confrontation—not revelations of satanic dispositions? (They are.) Then what dispositions are they revealing? Are they not the satanic dispositions of being arrogant and conceited, and averse to the truth? (It is.) It is clearly you who made a mistake, and clearly you who did not do your duty well and delayed the church’s work, so why can you not accept and submit to others’ criticism, exposure, and pruning? Is such a person a right person? Are they submitting to God and the truth? (No.) A person who does not submit to the truth is not a right person. Then are they suitable to be a leader or worker? (No.) If there really are such people who cannot accept the truth in the decision-making groups of the churches in various countries, will it affect church life? Will it affect the work of spreading the gospel? Will it affect the progress of church work? (Yes.) If there is someone among the leaders and workers who does things in violation of principles, and when others prune them, they do not accept what is being said, and instead react with resistance and judgment, and even condemn others as attacking them, then can these leaders and workers still cooperate harmoniously? Will they not be split into two factions? (Yes.) Can they still do church work? (No.) Is this not a serious problem? (It is.) Then how should this problem be resolved? (A person who does not accept the truth is not a right person and is no longer suitable to be cultivated as a leader or worker. Once the decision-making group reaches a consensus, they can dismiss them.) What will the consequences be if such a person is not dismissed? (Firstly, it will delay the life entry of brothers and sisters, and secondly, it will delay, disrupt, and disturb the work of the church. In serious cases, it will bring chaos upon the church.) If such a person is not dismissed, it is certain that they will disrupt and disturb the work of the church. Once there are a few people in a church who do not accept the truth, and who judge, attack, and condemn anyone who offers suggestions to them, and they even form cliques and create factions, then they have become a gang of antichrists. So if such a person who does not accept pruning appears among the leaders and workers, the consequences will be truly serious! Some people cannot see the nature of this matter clearly. They say, “This person has just been elected as a leader. Their stature is too small and they don’t yet understand the truth. It’s normal for them to justify themselves, make excuses, and be unable to submit when pruned.” Is this statement correct? (No. Whether a person can accept the truth does not depend on how long they have believed in God, but on their attitude toward the truth, and on whether they love and submit to the truth.) That is correct. You may have believed in God for a short time and understand few truths, so you cannot act according to principles, but at the very least you must be able to accept the truth and pruning. Only in this way can you do the work of the church well. If you cannot even handle being pruned correctly or accept and submit to it, can you submit to God at all? If a person doesn’t submit to God at all, it proves that they do not understand the truth in the slightest. Is a person who does not understand the truth in the slightest suited to be a leader or worker? (No.) What will be the consequences of such a person becoming a leader or worker? (They will walk the path of an antichrist and become an antichrist, and they will harm the work of the church and bring harm upon God’s chosen people.) Remember, people who do not accept or understand the truth in the slightest absolutely cannot be leaders or workers. If you elect them just because you see they have some enthusiasm in doing their duty, then this is wrong. If they don’t understand the truth, they cannot be a leader or worker no matter how enthusiastic they are. If they have some caliber and can shoulder a task, you can let them practice by being a group leader or supervisor first, but they absolutely cannot be a leader or worker. What is the minimum standard for being a leader or worker? It is being able to accept the truth, and when what others say is right, in line with the facts, and in line with the truth, you can approach what they have said correctly and accept and submit to it. Even if you feel bad and suffer when pruned, you do not resist, much less judge or attack others, and instead, you are able to pray to God and ask God to keep you submissive. If this is the kind of attitude you have, then God’s house will cultivate you and give you the opportunity to practice being a leader or worker. But if you react to pruning with refusal and resistance, and you stand in opposition to others and dispute them, even judging and attacking them, and form cliques and factions, then that is troublesome. This proves that you have the disposition of an antichrist. People with the disposition of an antichrist are capable of such evils. Such people cannot be retained and must be dismissed. Keeping them on will bring disaster. Do you understand? (Yes.)

Recently, the Chinese church has dismissed and eliminated some false leaders and people who acted recklessly. The church had given these people opportunities to practice, but they did not do their duties well and acted recklessly according to their own will, disrupting and disturbing the work of the church, and so they were dismissed. After they had gone through another two or three years of experience, the church gave them another opportunity to practice doing the duty of a leader or worker. In the end, they still reverted to their old ways and again disrupted and disturbed the work of the church. The church even gave some of them numerous opportunities, but they never truly repented. Such people do not pursue the truth, and so they are not suitable to be leaders or workers. Therefore, the church dismissed and eliminated them, and will never give them another opportunity. Tell me, is it good to handle people who act recklessly in this way? (Yes. They are obstacles and stumbling blocks to church work. Only by dismissing them can church work progress normally.) It is necessary to cleanse away these people from the ranks of those doing their duties to ensure the normal progress of church work. However, some brothers and sisters may not quite understand this matter, and they might think, “Is God’s house dismissing people just because they committed a single transgression or revealed corruption a single time?” If you think this way, you are wrong. The reckless acts of these people and the disruptions and disturbances they brought about didn’t just happen once or twice; they consistently acted in this way. God’s house repeatedly fellowshipped the truth to help them and pruned them, but they refused to change despite repeated admonishments. In the end, the church dismissed and eliminated them. Handling them in this way is in line with principles. Therefore, brothers and sisters in various countries, you must not dismiss and eliminate someone just because they occasionally commit a mistake or transgression. Doing so does not accord with truth principles. If a brother or sister commits a transgression, we can fellowship the truth with them and support and help them with love, guiding them to reflect on and know themselves, and giving them a chance to repent. Doing so is appropriate. What if you help them with love once or twice and they revert to their old ways? Is it appropriate to just go ahead and dismiss and eliminate them? (No.) You have to give them another chance, treat them with love, support them, and help them so that they can reflect on and know themselves. If they commit the same mistake three times and still do not change, then they are refusing to change despite repeated admonishments. Anyone who refuses to change despite repeated admonishments should be dismissed and eliminated. Leaders and workers in all countries must remember the following principle: Do not dismiss and eliminate a brother or sister just because of a single transgression. You should give people a chance to repent, and you should have love for people. There is an old Chinese saying: “One may be forgiven a first and second time, but never a third and fourth.” If you do not give even one chance and handle a brother or sister immediately upon discovering a single transgression, this is unloving. You should give people a chance to repent and change. If they do not understand the truth, we fellowship it with them. If, after fellowship, they recognize their problem and are willing to repent, we should give them another chance. If they commit the same mistake again under special circumstances, we can fellowship the truth with them again and observe their attitude. If their attitude is good, we can give them another chance to repent. If this person commits the mistake again later, then we look at how they usually behave. If their usual behavior is good and they can accept the truth, and it was only after several years that they committed another transgression, then we can give them a third chance. If this person consistently behaves badly, they do not accept the truth, their disposition is bad, and they are not guileless, then we can give them at most two chances. If they commit the same mistake again, we are to dismiss and eliminate them. So, what kind of person can be given three chances to repent? What kind of person is to be given two chances to repent? What is this mainly based on? (It is mainly based on a person’s consistent behavior. A person with consistently bad behavior is given at most two chances, and if they commit the mistake again, they are eliminated. If a person’s general behavior is okay, and they have some heart to accept the truth and are willing to repent, they can be given three chances.) A good person can be given one more chance. If they are not good or guileless, give them at most two chances to repent, and if they commit the same mistake again, move straight to eliminating them. Do you understand this principle? (Yes.) The words I have spoken today are all key issues and principles for doing church work. Leaders and workers, you must all write them down. If you do not understand or master these principles, you will be sure to make mistakes in your work. In most countries, there are quite a few people who have believed in God for more than three to five years. So, when you elect members for district-level or regional decision-making groups, you must elect people who have believed in God for more than three years. You cannot elect those who have believed in God for too short a time, because they do not understand the truth and have no life experience, and so they cannot do the work of using the truth to resolve problems. If there really is someone with good caliber who can strive toward the truth, you can start by cultivating them to be a church leader, but the election of members of the district-level and regional decision-making groups must be based on whether a person understands the truth and has life experiential testimonies. Those with life experiential testimonies can be members of the district-level decision-making group, and those with richer experience can join the regional or pastoral area decision-making group to do their duties. Those without life experiential testimonies can at most only practice being church leaders or deacons. You should remember this principle.

Now is the critical period of God’s work. What do I mean by “critical period”? It means that we are about to enter into the great catastrophes. These great catastrophes refer to the great catastrophes of the last three and a half years prophesied in Revelation, and they are the great catastrophes that will destroy mankind. All those who do not accept Almighty God’s work of the last days, and those who accept it but do not pursue the truth in the slightest, will be destroyed in the great catastrophes and cannot be saved. The catastrophes of the last three and a half years will be truly great. These great catastrophes will arrive very soon. We do not know exactly when, but within the next year or two, localized great catastrophes will successively befall certain parts of the world. What do I mean by “localized great catastrophes”? Examples of these would be a great earthquake occurring in a certain country, a war breaking out in a certain country, a famine occurring in a certain country, a plague occurring in a certain country, and so on. These would all be localized great catastrophes. When these catastrophes arrive, the danger will be great, and many people will die. The number of people who will die in disasters will keep on growing. Therefore, these next one to two years will be the most critical period that decides people’s fate, life, and death. Can you accept these words? (Yes.) If you believe in God but do not pursue the truth in these next one or two years, what will the consequences be? You will not be able to survive in the disasters. If you do not pursue the truth, do not practice submitting to the truth and to God, and if you do not practice being of one mind with brothers and sisters to perform your duty to carry out God’s will, then your heart isn’t in the right place, you have no conscience or reason, and you are unworthy of God’s great grace of salvation. God has expressed so many truths and paid such a great price to save man, yet you do not pursue the truth. Can you still survive? If you want to survive, you should pursue the truth in earnest. So how should one practice pursuing the truth? Doing so means accepting the truth, learning to submit to the truth and to God’s orchestrations and arrangements, fulfilling the duty you ought to do, never pursuing fame, gain, and status, and not being defiant or indignant when you see others who are better than you. Everyone has strengths and you should treat these things correctly, learn from others’ strong points to offset your weaknesses, cooperate harmoniously with others, and be of one mind with them to do the work of spreading the gospel of the kingdom. If you can practice in this way, you are pursuing the truth. Leaders and workers should also perform their duties in this way. Remember, if you focus on pursuing the truth during these next two years, enter into the truth reality, and can perform your duty in a way that is up to standard, you will be able to survive. If you do not pursue the truth, fail to enter into the truth reality, and the duty you perform is not up to standard, then you will be in trouble, and when the great catastrophes come, there is no telling whether you will live or die. Tell me, is there anyone who wants to die in the disasters? No one wants to die; everyone wants to survive. So, you must prepare good deeds. Without good deeds, you will not survive. Almighty God says: “Prepare sufficient good deeds for your destination” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God). So what are sufficient good deeds? (Preparing all the good deeds that one can do and prepare, at the very least achieving enough good deeds to offset one’s transgressions.) That is partly correct. To be precise, having sufficient good deeds means fulfilling your duty and your responsibilities, and fulfilling the duty you can carry out to the best of your ability. What does it mean to fulfill one’s duty to the best of one’s ability? Some people can perform two duties, so they are not satisfied with performing only one. Some people can perform three duties, so they are not satisfied with performing only two. There are also people who can forsake everything to perform several duties. These are all instances of performing one’s duty to the best of one’s ability. Some people serve as leaders and can direct gospel work, handle problems in church life, and support leaders and workers at all levels in their work. They do all the work they can. Is this performing one’s duty to the best of one’s ability? (Yes.) This is performing one’s duty to the best of one’s ability; it is performing one’s duty with all one’s might. But some people always show consideration for their flesh when performing their duties. If you ask them to perform more duties, they are unwilling to do so, saying, “How much time and energy would it take for me to perform so many duties? If I were to do these duties, I wouldn’t be able to live freely and easily. No, I can only perform a little duty, and even for this little duty, the time and energy I can offer are limited. If I offer too much, it would be too hard and tiring.” The fact that they can say such things shows that they certainly have no devotion toward their duties. Look at how people can work with all their might to earn money just to enjoy a better life for their flesh. Some people even work two or three jobs a day, working at least fourteen or fifteen hours a day. That suffering is truly great; many people are trading their lives for money. Tell me, these people can work two or three jobs a day for themselves, but how many duties can they perform to satisfy God and repay God’s love? Some people are very reluctant to perform even a single duty. They do not want to persist, they always feel aggrieved, and they’re always demanding blessings from God. Does such a person have any loyalty, submission, or love for God? (No.) Their faith in God is pitifully small! They have no loyalty or submission at all, and even less of a heart to love God. Does such a person have any conscience or reason? (No.) Is it not wishful thinking for such a person to still want to receive blessings and gain eternal life? (It is.) Tell me, what exactly do people believe in God and perform their duties for? To put it plainly, it is to be saved and enter God’s kingdom. To put it even more bluntly, it is to save oneself from death. People can work two or three jobs a day for their own fleshly enjoyment, so how many duties can they perform to save themselves from death? Which is more important? (Saving oneself from death is more important.) If you truly see this matter clearly, you will be able to go all out to perform your duty well. Perhaps some people will say, “Working three jobs allows me to earn more money and live a better life. These are tangible benefits that I can see and touch. But I can’t see how performing my duty could save me from death. It is not certain whether I will die in the end even if I perform my duty. Perhaps I can survive even without performing my duty.” You do not believe the fact that performing one’s duty can save people from death because you have no faith in God. If you insist on waiting until the day you see with your own eyes that your outcome is not to die before you are willing to sincerely expend yourself for God, is this not refusing to act until the situation is completely certain? If you are only willing to sincerely expend yourself for God at that time, it will be too late. You will not receive God’s approval. Such people are just like Thomas. Thomas did not believe that the Lord Jesus could be resurrected from the dead. He thought it did not accord with common sense and was unscientific. So when someone told him that the Lord Jesus had been resurrected, he did not believe it. He insisted on seeing the spiritual body of the resurrected Lord Jesus appear to him with his own eyes and putting his hand into the Lord’s side before he would believe that the Lord Jesus had been resurrected and that the Lord Jesus was God. Therefore, the Lord Jesus said to Thomas: “Because you have seen Me, you have believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29). What does this mean? It is telling those who insist on seeing the Lord appear publicly with their own eyes before they believe that the Lord does not approve of their faith. Thomas was condemned by God in this way, and he was thoroughly eliminated. Those who are unwilling to expend themselves for God hold the same view as Thomas. At the very least, their faith is too small. Does this accord with the facts? (It does.) If these people are never able to sincerely expend themselves for God, they will ultimately be condemned and eliminated by God just as Thomas was.