Fellowship From the Brother Above – February 2, 2026 (Part One)

In today’s gathering, I’ll directly answer the questions raised by leaders and workers from around the world. (OK.)

Question 1: When we cultivate people, how can we discern who meets the standards for being cultivated as a leader or worker? What should we look at when selecting suitable candidates for cultivation?

Answer: Are there principles for cultivating people? (Yes.) When cultivating people, you must act according to principles. There are principles for how to select candidates for cultivation. If you are cultivating leaders and workers, then you must cultivate those who pursue the truth and have comprehension ability—which is to say, people of good caliber. This is the most fundamental principle. Some people cannot discern who pursues the truth, and that is a problem. If they cannot discern this, they will not know how to select people, and there may be deviations in how they cultivate people. When some people see someone expend themselves for God with enthusiasm and show love to others, they think this person is worth cultivating. Is this view correct? (No. Being enthusiastic does not mean a person has spiritual understanding, nor does it mean they pursue the truth.) When cultivating leaders and workers, it will not do to just look for enthusiastic people. Many people are enthusiastic in their belief in God—in particular, most new believers are enthusiastic. For them, believing in God is something of a novelty. They find living church life and interacting with brothers and sisters all quite novel, and they see that believers in God are all good people, so they gain enthusiasm. But over time, this enthusiasm disappears and they grow cold. In particular, when they encounter things that are not in line with their own notions and imaginings, their enthusiasm completely vanishes. So why does their enthusiasm disappear so quickly? This shows that enthusiasm is neither the truth nor life, and so it’s natural that it disappears so quickly. Therefore, it is inappropriate to cultivate people to be leaders or workers based on whether they are enthusiastic. If one doesn’t understand the truth, they won’t be able to see through people. If they truly understand the truth, they will be able to see people clearly and discern them. So how can you tell whether someone can be cultivated as a leader or worker? You have to look at whether they have comprehension ability, whether they love the truth, whether they have normal humanity, and whether they have reason in their speech and actions. In addition, look at whether they act with principle, as well as what their principles are and what stance they take when things happen to them. You can tell whether they practice the truth and act with principle based on these things. If you have this ability to discern, then you will know how to select people, and you will select those who pursue the truth to be cultivated as leaders and workers. So what is a person who pursues the truth? It is someone who can seek the truth in all things and who has a God-fearing heart. No matter what they encounter, if they cannot see through it, they will pray, “Oh God, I cannot see through this matter. I do not know if my view accords with the truth, and I do not know how to act in a way that accords with the principles. May You enlighten and lead me.” Not only do they pray to God to seek the truth, but when they encounter things they cannot see through or understand, they will also go to others to fellowship and seek the truth. Without even realizing it, they will come to understand the truth. Not only will they have discernment of people, but they will also gradually be able to see various things clearly. Such a person is someone who pursues the truth. So, what about those who do not seek the truth when they encounter things, instead just living by satanic philosophies and satanic dispositions and doing whatever they want—are they people who pursue the truth? (No.) Why do we say they are not? Because they do not take the truth as their principle in their actions, but instead act based on satanic philosophies, their corrupt dispositions, and their own ideas. This is very far from the requirements of God’s words. They believe in God but do not live within God’s words, do not live by God’s words, do not seek the truth within God’s words, and do not draw near to or pray to God within God’s words. Are these people not very far from God? (They are.) Their hearts are very far from God, and they never seek the truth within God’s words in anything they do or fellowship the truth with others. These people are outside of God’s words. Then how does God view people who are outside of His words? Are they believers in God or nonbelievers? (They are nonbelievers; they are disbelievers.) Therefore, there are some people who have believed in God for many years but do not seek the truth in anything they do. In whatever they do, they rely on satanic philosophies and satanic dispositions, and follow their own will. As God sees it, such people are nonbelievers and disbelievers. How do people come to be disbelievers? It is because they never read God’s words and never seek the truth within God’s words. Such people become nonbelievers and disbelievers.

What things should we look at when selecting suitable candidates for cultivation? This depends on what duty the people you are cultivating will do. For example, if you are cultivating leaders and workers, you must look at their ability to comprehend the truth, whether their comprehension of God’s words is pure, and whether they seek the truth in their actions. Additionally, you need to look at whether they love reading God’s words, attending gatherings, listening to sermons, and fellowshipping the truth, and whether they accept the truth. You need to evaluate them based on these things. If someone has comprehension ability, loves the truth, and can often seek the truth when they encounter things, weighing things up and approaching things according to God’s words, then they are worth cultivating. Some people say, “All the brothers and sisters attend gatherings, listen to sermons, and fellowship the truth just the same. How can we discern if someone loves the truth and pursues the truth?” I will teach you the simplest method: Just look at whether they accept the judgment and chastisement of God’s words. If, after reading God’s words, they can fellowship the truth and know themselves, and especially if they can come to know their own corrupt dispositions, then they are people who pursue the truth. But if, no matter what they fellowship, they do not talk about knowing themselves in the slightest, they never know their own corrupt dispositions, and they just spout plausible-sounding doctrines to package and disguise themselves, and even think they understand the truth and are better than anyone else, then they are a hypocritical Pharisee. Is that clear? (It is.) Then how should we select people to cultivate as gospel preachers? The required standard for this differs from the standard for cultivating leaders and workers. First of all, it is best if gospel preachers are also people who understand the truth. At the very least, they should understand some of God’s words concerning visions and have some understanding of the Bible. In addition, they should know how to interact with people, be eloquent, and be skilled at talking with people. Such people are suited to being gospel preachers. If someone lacks eloquence and is not skilled at talking to and communicating with people, then they are not suited for testifying. I often say that when selecting gospel workers, you must choose those who are skilled at dealing with people. These people are eloquent and know what to say to whomever they meet. Most people like interacting with them, and they can chat with anyone. If such a person also understands some truths, they will get the best results in preaching the gospel. On the other hand, there are some people who are quite straightforward and speak directly; they tell it like it is. These people are actually more suited to being leaders and workers. Tell me, is this correct? (It is.) Therefore, you should base your selection of suitable candidates for cultivation on what duty you are cultivating them for—whether you are cultivating leaders and workers, gospel preachers, or waterers. There are different standards for evaluating these different groups of people. If you want to cultivate waterers or leaders and workers, it is best to find people who know themselves. People who are best at reflecting on and knowing themselves, who have a relatively deep knowledge of their own corrupt dispositions, who know how to resolve the problems of their own revelations of corruption, and who know how to dissect the various revelations of corruption or erroneous thoughts, views, and behavior and fellowship the truth to resolve them—these are the people who are more suited for watering the church or being church leaders or workers. If you see someone who’s eloquent and knows how to fellowship the truth concerning visions, but whose life entry is relatively shallow, such a person is most suited to being cultivated to preach the gospel.

Question 2: Some brothers and sisters never manage to focus on their primary remit. For example, some leaders and workers in charge of gospel work only focus on finding potential gospel recipients themselves, but do not know how to follow up on or advance the church’s overall gospel work. How can we help leaders and workers fulfill their primary remit better?

Answer: Cultivating people to shoulder work requires knowing how to assess what a person’s caliber is like. Some people are of good caliber and can handle a substantial, broad remit. Some people are of poor caliber and can only shoulder small, individual tasks. If the work gets a little complicated, they get muddled, can’t manage things, and can’t prioritize. The caliber of such people is somewhat poorer. Could you train such a person to handle a broad remit? (No.) Why not? (Their caliber is poor, and if they were to take on a broad remit, they wouldn’t be able to manage it.) That’s right. This is not something that can be changed through training. Although training is indeed necessary, it must be adapted to a person’s caliber. If their caliber is sufficient to do this work, they will be able to do it well with a little training. If their caliber is not up to standard, no amount of training will be of use. Tell me, can you train a chicken to fly as high as an eagle? (No.) Why not? (Because a chicken does not possess the caliber of an eagle. Its innate conditions are preordained by God and cannot be changed.) Because a chicken is born with the caliber of a chicken, it cannot attain the caliber of an eagle. No matter how you train it, it can never become an eagle. Therefore, some people are only suited to doing single tasks; no matter how much you train them, they cannot take on a broad remit. Take the work of preaching the gospel, for example. If you ask them to find potential gospel recipients and preach to them, they can do it. But if you ask them to serve as the director of a gospel team, and have them arrange for several people to testify or several people to scout for potential recipients, then they will not know how to do it. They will scratch their heads and think, “How should this work be arranged? Asking me to do a single task is fine, but I don’t know how to arrange work for several people.” Could you train such a person to arrange work? (No.) Therefore, you should not train people of very poor caliber. This is one side to it. There’s another side—do people of good caliber need training? (They do.) For someone of good caliber, you just need to give them a simple outline, telling them how the work should be done. They will understand straight away, and they will basically not need specific training. It is like using a machine. A person of good caliber will know how to use it just by reading the manual. Do they still need training? But it’s useless trying to teach people of poor caliber, however hard you try. Even if you make them memorize the operating procedures, they still won’t necessarily know how to use the machine. Therefore, you also have to look at people’s caliber when cultivating them. First look in the church to see who is of good caliber and who can handle overall, big-picture work; you can cultivate these people to be leaders, workers, or supervisors. If someone’s caliber is a bit poorer and they can only do individual tasks, then you can arrange for them to do a single-task duty. Is it good to arrange work according to people’s caliber and to cultivate people based on this principle? (It is.)

In fact, arranging the work of preaching the gospel is also very simple. If there are currently five gospel preachers, then how should you arrange the work? Just arrange for people to concentrate on finding potential gospel recipients for these five people to testify to. Arrange for two people to provide each gospel preacher with potential gospel recipients; if you have five gospel preachers, find fifteen people to provide them with potential gospel recipients. In this way, the gospel work will be up and running. Some gospel preachers have quick minds and might say, “I don’t need others to provide me with potential gospel recipients. Wherever I go, I can find potential gospel recipients myself just by interacting with people.” Such a person is of good caliber. Whether they encounter believers in the Lord or nonbelievers, they can find suitable potential gospel recipients just by chatting with them. Do they still need other people to find recipients for them? The potential gospel recipients found for them by others might not even be as good as the ones they find themselves. Because they are of good caliber, know how to read and discern people, and are skilled at dealing with people, they can find relatively thirsty potential gospel recipients just by interacting with people. The more people they interact with, the more potential gospel recipients they will find. Do they still need other people to help them find potential gospel recipients? (No.) In the past, when I preached the gospel, I did not need others to find potential gospel recipients for me. I would just go out for a walk, and perhaps after meeting three or five people and talking with them, I would find one or two potential gospel recipients. I would come across a few believers in the Lord and talk with them about the Bible. Some people’s eyes would light up, and when I fellowshipped a bit about the truth of believing in God, their eyes would light up even more, and their hearts would start to thirst. This is having comprehension ability. After fellowshipping with them a little longer, they would ask for my phone number. Did I not find a potential gospel recipient just by talking to them? (Yes.) Potential gospel recipients are actually very easy to find. No matter how many strangers you see, if one of them looks like a good person, just chat with them—they might just be a potential gospel recipient. If you want to find believers in the Lord, then go to a church. If you go there and chat with people, you will be able to find a few potential gospel recipients of good caliber. There is another path to finding potential gospel recipients, which is getting the brothers and sisters to provide or introduce them. In the past, when I was preaching the gospel in mainland China, someone said, “I know a gathering place. My relatives gather there, and they all believe in the Lord.” So I followed them to that gathering place, and after I fellowshipped with them for a few days, they all accepted. Tell me, are potential gospel recipients easy to find? (They are.) You should mobilize the brothers and sisters. Ask them to introduce you to believers in the Lord, or people they know who seem like good people. Have you not then found potential gospel recipients? Actually, there are many potential gospel recipients; the key thing is working out ways to find them.