Fellowship From the Brother Above – September 15, 2025 (Part Nine)

Question 15: I’m a church leader. When I see my coworker constantly making excuses to avoid cooperating with me in the work, I feel very negative. I don’t know how I should experience this kind of situation.

Answer: In this case, you need to understand what is actually going on with them and find out why they won’t cooperate with you—whether they look down on you or hold certain views about you. Once you’ve clearly understood the reason, you can then fellowship with them to resolve it. If it’s not specifically about you and they won’t cooperate with anyone, then they are not fit to be a leader or worker. They don’t bear a burden, so we must find someone else who will bear a burden to cooperate in the work. Is that understood? (Yes.)

Question 16: When I’m doing my duty, if my brothers and sisters follow up on my work closely, I feel motivated. But if they don’t follow up as closely, I slack off and start to indulge in my flesh, and the results I achieve in my work decline. How can I develop a true burden for my duty?

Answer: People like this are small in stature and don’t attend to their proper work. They don’t understand the truth and are still unstable, so they need more watering. Without more watering, they can’t do their duty normally. If there is someone better than them in the church, replace them quickly. But if there’s no one better, and everyone else is just as tepid and half-hearted, then you must find ways to support them and urge them to do the work. If fellowshipping some truths with them leads them to become more active and changes their state gradually, then you should fellowship more truths to support them. Is that understood? (Yes.) You must constantly urge such people on and fellowship on the truth with them; only then can they achieve some results in their duty.

Question 17: When I achieve some results in my duty and my brothers and sisters praise me for doing it well, I feel very happy. But at the same time, I also feel afraid, because their praise may make me relax and lose my burden, causing the results I achieve in my work to decline. How can I avoid becoming complacent when others praise or esteem me, and maintain a normal state instead?

Answer: When you’re held in high esteem or praised, you feel like you are walking on air, and your performance of your duty is affected. This is getting carried away. Aren’t you too superficial? Do you not have a small stature? (Yes.) If you truly had the truth reality, you would continue to do your duty as you should when people praise you. And if they don’t praise you, but instead attack, mock, or ridicule you, you would still do your duty as you should. This is what it means for one’s life to have grown and matured. When a person’s life has grown and matured, they are not affected by any environment. No matter how harsh the environment, they can follow the arrangements of God’s house and do their duty in a down-to-earth manner. They are never emotional; they can do their work when they are happy, and they can work just the same when they are unhappy or in a bad mood. Nothing gets delayed. This is what it means to have grown in stature, for one’s life to have matured. If someone is constantly emotional, does this affect their work? (It does.) Are such people fit for God’s use? (No.) To solve this problem, you need to understand some truths and learn to reflect on yourself. When your brothers and sisters praise you, you feel motivated, but when they offer you suggestions, you become unhappy and lose your motivation. What is influencing this? Aren’t you living by your personal preferences? Is living by your preferences not a type of corrupt disposition? It is a sign of immaturity, a manifestation of childishness. If this is what your stature is, then is your humanity not immature? Can a person with immature humanity serve God? Are they fit for God’s use? You must be emotionally stable at all times and focus wholeheartedly on your duty. When others praise you, you should continue to do what you’re supposed to do. When others judge and condemn you, you should still do what you’re supposed to do, and your work should not be affected in the slightest. This is what it means for your life to have grown and matured. What does your life having grown and matured refer to? It means following God’s will without being affected by any person, event, or thing, or any environment. If God prunes you, you must still do the work God has commissioned you with. If God praises you, you must remain completely unaffected and still do the work God has commissioned you with. This is what it is to have normal humanity and a stable disposition; this means your life has grown and matured.

Question 18: When I face difficulties like financial hardship or physical illness, grievances arise in my heart, and I believe these difficulties are affecting my ability to do my duty normally. I also make demands of God, hoping He will resolve my difficulties. How can I resolve my unreasonable demands of God and achieve submission to His orchestrations and arrangements?

Answer: Situations like financial hardship and physical illness reveal people the most. What do they reveal about people? (They reveal whether people have faith and a submissive heart.) When you’re eating good food, you have energy and can expend yourself for God, but when you’re eating cornbread, you lose your energy, and your duty is affected. What kind of problem is this? You have no loyalty or submission toward God. A person who has loyalty and submission toward God is not affected by any person, event, or thing, or any environment. They can be loyal and submit to the very end under any circumstances. This is what it means for one’s life to have grown and matured. I have a principle in doing my work: I do the work I’m supposed to do regardless of the environment or situation and regardless of what happens. After I finish my work, I proactively look for more work to do. I always ask if you have any problems or difficulties. I tell you to quickly summarize any difficulties you have in preaching the gospel or doing church work, and I will arrange a time to fellowship with you. Tell me, is it tiring for me to do this? It is, and when I’m tired, I rest a little. But I try to do as much work as my physical condition allows me to. This is my principle in doing my work. So, do you think I want to rest more or indulge in the flesh more? I don’t think about these things. In my heart, God’s work comes first, following God’s will comes first, and completing God’s commission well comes first. I seek nothing else. It doesn’t matter if my food and clothing is not so good; none of that affects my ability to do my duty well. I have no requirements for my living conditions. If my living conditions are good, I live a bit better; if not, I can get by anywhere. In the past, when I was doing church work in mainland China, the CCP often implemented large-scale campaigns of arrest. Whenever I went to visit churches, I had to take risks. Sometimes, in the harshest and most dangerous environments, it wasn’t easy to find a safe place to sleep. I even had to sleep on coffin planks, but the next morning, I would hold gatherings as usual. None of that affected my performance of my duty. Also, some brothers and sisters who hosted me always wanted to cook me nice meals. I would say, “There’s no need. A simple meal is fine.” I ate whatever they had at home; even a single simple dish was fine. I don’t want to be a burden to my brothers and sisters. It’s no big deal for our flesh to suffer a little; we can endure any kind of hardship. Why don’t I care about what hardships I endure? It’s because I bear a burden for the work of God’s house in my heart. I must do the work well. No matter how harsh the environment or how great the pressure, I remain unyielding and persist in doing the work, and whenever my brothers and sisters are lacking in some aspect of the truth, I quickly water them. I have always persisted in working this way, every single day for thirty years, and I have never missed a single gathering. So why do I endure these hardships? It’s so that I won’t fail God and can also be a bit considerate of God’s intentions. I have this thought and resolve: “God has entrusted this work to me. If I can’t complete God’s commission, then I am not worthy to live; I deserve to die. I would be letting God down!” So, that’s why I can endure any hardship to do my work well. Some people might say, “God has explicitly commissioned you to do your work, so it’s only right for you to act this way. But our duty wasn’t explicitly commissioned by God, so it seems optional. Should we really treat our duty the way you do?” Who can see this matter clearly? (We should do our duty the same way you do.) Why? (Although our duty wasn’t directly commissioned by God, we have still accepted the duty God has given us. Besides, we are created beings, and everything we have comes from God, so we should be devoted to God. If we can’t fulfill our duty, then we truly deserve to die.) I have an explicit commission from God. If you don’t have an explicit commission from God but can comprehend it in this way, then you are more precious than I am. It shows you have greater faith. It’s just as 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). God hasn’t explicitly commissioned you, but you can accept it from God, thinking, “This duty is just right for me. This is God’s commission. I must be loyal to God, and I must do my utmost to do it well, just as Noah built the ark.” Building the ark isn’t just about saving others; it is also about saving yourself. No matter how long you’ve believed in God, you have God’s commission upon you. If you’ve come to recognize, “I am most suited for this duty, I should do this duty, and this is the commission God has given me,” then you should do everything in your power to complete this commission. Isn’t this building the ark? (Yes.) And when you build the ark, it’s not just you who will ultimately be saved; it will also benefit and provide for the people around you and those involved in your duty, right? (Yes.) Noah devotedly built the ark and completed God’s commission. We must also be devoted in our duty and do our utmost to complete God’s commission. However, there’s a difference between us doing our duty and Noah building the ark. We have a time limit for doing our duty, whereas Noah did not when he was building the ark. The rain didn’t fall until the ark was finished; if the ark hadn’t been finished, the rain wouldn’t have fallen. So, what is the time limit for doing our duty? It’s when the great catastrophes arrive. Once the great catastrophes arrive, we won’t be able to do our duty even if we want to. The days of the great catastrophes are set by God. Although we don’t know the exact dates yet, they are very near. Therefore, you must intensify your efforts in doing your duty and preparing good deeds—the more, the better. If you do not act with urgency in doing your duty and preparing your good deeds now, you will suffer loss and have regrets in the future. Do you think there is much time left for us to do our duty? (No, not much.) So, we must seize the hour and give it our all to do our duty well. The great catastrophes will only get bigger from now on. The world could be a different place next year. Don’t fantasize about endless peaceful days ahead; that’s not going to happen. Right now, we must not only pursue the truth and do our duty well, but also prepare some basic supplies for the time when the catastrophes strike. If we don’t prepare at all, it’ll be a problem when the time comes. Also, books of God’s words must be printed across the regions. When the catastrophes intensify and there’s no electricity or internet, and we can’t read God’s words on computers, we must ensure that our brothers and sisters have books to read. People can never be without God’s words. Once you are apart from God’s words, you won’t be able to experience God’s work or know your corrupt disposition. Your experience of God’s work will stop, and so will your life growth. So, is it important to seize the hour right now to equip yourself with the truth and do your duty well? (It is.) If you don’t have the truth and your stature is too small, can you do your duty well? (No.) Only by understanding the truth more and more can you do your duty better and better, and be able to do a greater range of different duties. Can you prepare sufficient good deeds by doing just one duty? You must do all the duties a person can do to prepare sufficient good deeds. Only by preparing sufficient good deeds can you be sure of entering the kingdom of heaven. Don’t think that entering the kingdom of heaven is so simple. If you think it’s a simple matter, you will surely do much less work, and you will still be in great danger. It will be hard to say what your destination and outcome will be. You must prepare sufficient good deeds to be sure of attaining a good destination. Most people in the religious world are still slumbering. No matter how we preach the gospel to them, they won’t investigate or accept it. They are destined to die, and there’s no need to waste effort on them. So, when you preach the gospel to religious people, just read them a passage or two of God’s words that address their questions. If they are interested in God’s words, they long to seek, and they can gain light from God’s words, then continue to fellowship with them. If you read them eight or ten passages of God’s words and they are not moved or interested at all, there’s no need to preach to such people. Even if you bring them in, they won’t pursue the truth. Anyone who is interested in God’s words and has the ability to comprehend them has spiritual understanding and is a treasure—we must find a way to gain them. If they believe in God and experience God’s work, they can attain salvation and do their duty well. Those who lack spiritual understanding and don’t accept the truth won’t be willing to do their duty even if they come to believe in God. They will always have a lot of trouble when they do their duty: One day they’ll have family matters, the next they’ll be sick. They have too many personal matters to deal with and can’t do much of any duty. What sort of people are they? As they say in China, they are “hopeless cases.” Such people lack spiritual understanding, won’t amount to anything, and are utterly useless.

Are there any more questions? (No.) Then that’s it for today’s gathering. Goodbye! (Goodbye, brother!)