Why Did Gamaliel Who Was Familiar With the Scriptures Not Follow the Lord Jesus?

By Xiaoding

    Such an incident is recorded in Acts in the Bible: Around A.D. 35, under the Holy Spirit’s guidance, the apostles of the Lord Jesus preached His salvation everywhere. At that time, through those apostles the Lord performed many signs and wonders, and thus there were more and more people who believed in and returned to the Lord. Seeing this, the rulers, the scribes, and the high priest bore a grudge against the apostles, and so they sent people to arrest them and were trying to murder them. At this time, there was a person called Gamaliel, who stood up and said, “And now I say to you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nothing: But if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it; lest haply you be found even to fight against God” (Acts 5:38–39). Gamaliel said these words to exhort the rulers, the scribes, and the high priest not to act blindly. He said to them that, what came from God shall increase, what came from man shall decrease, and that if what the apostles did came from God but they blindly resisted and condemned them, then they would probably become people who attacked God. The council listened to him, and did not murder the apostles but let them go.

I Finally Understand That Obeying Pastors Is Not Obeying God

By Shixing, Malaysia

    “Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the church of God” (Acts 20:28).

    Pastors and elders frequently use this verse of Scripture to teach us that pastors are established by God, and that obeying our pastors is obeying God. Especially when I saw how my pastors were familiar with the Bible, how they labored and paid a price, and how they could devote their entire lives to the church, I felt that they were a worthy example to imitate, so I actively took part in serving the church and later became a church worker.

Do You Know the Way to Trusting God Through Trials?

By Huixin

    Every brother and sister will encounter trials, like illness, persecution and suffering, natural and manmade disasters. When these situations befall us, they are tests of our faith and obedience toward God. The Bible says, “For You, O God, have proved us: You have tried us, as silver is tried” (Psalm 66:10). “My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into  divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (James 1:2–4). From this we can see that trials are God’s tests and ordeals for people. They can temper people’s will, refine their confidence, cleanse the impurity in their belief in God, further their spiritual growth and make them soon become someone after God’s heart.

How Should We Pray According to His Will? Get Inspired From 3 Biblical Stories

By Xuesong

    Praying is a way for Christians to commune with God and obtain enlightenment from Him, and is an essential practice in our daily life. Since praying is so important to us Christians, how should we pray according to His will so that He will hear? This is an issue that every Christian is concerned about. Now let’s find out the answer from three biblical stories.

Why Did the Jews Yearn for the Coming of the Messiah yet Oppose Him When He Truly Came?

By Xia Wei

    As we all know, the Jews were God’s chosen people, Israel was the birthplace of God’s work, the Old Testament predicted that the Messiah would lead the lives of the Israelites, and thus the Jews had eagerly yearned for the coming of the Messiah. But why was it that when the Messiah—the Lord Jesus—truly came to work, they didn’t accept Him, yet opposed Him and even crucified Him? This is what we will talk about today. May the Lord guide us.

Why There Are Different Christian Denominations?

By Zhou Tao

My Confusion

    Several years ago, I was often out on business. At all of my stops, I would seek a meeting place on weekends, off my own bat, to share the Lord’s words and pray. But after some of the meetings, the church leaders would ask me, “Brother Zhou, which denomination do you belong to? What are the doctrines of your church?” I was always taken aback and would reply, “I believe in the Lord Jesus, and I don’t belong to any denomination. We all are family in Christ.” But they would answer, “Now there are many churches, but only our church is the true one, only our church encompasses all the others.” Later, what baffled me even more was that when I returned to my hometown church my church friends asked me what doctrines I’d heard in other churches. We got into quarrels over different understandings of Bible verses, and could never reach an agreement. Our meetings often ended bitterly. Many years passed, and no matter where I went, what impressed me was the multitude of denominations and how they were all critical of each other. Seeing this, I thought of the words in the Bible, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Eph 4:5–6). We all believe in the Lord, read the Bible and the words of the Lord; why are there so many Christian denominations? What is the root of this? Which one is in line with the Lord’s will? Full of confusion and puzzlement, I eagerly wanted to find the answers.

Does the Warning in Revelation 22:18–19 Apply to the Entire Bible?

By Chiheng

Editor’s Note:

    A good friend of Christian Xu Min sends her a book—she feels spiritually freed after reading it, and it seems to her like a book of God’s utterance. However, her pastor says that according to a prophecy in Revelation 22:18–19, no one can add anything to or remove anything from the Bible, so God couldn’t possibly speak aside from through the Bible. Xu Min is really confused and wonders, what does the verse about not adding things in Revelation 22:18–19 really mean? Does “not adding things” apply to the entire Bible or just the Book of Revelation? After a fellowship, she understood the truth and mystery in it. Read this article to understand the truth within, lest we miss His return due to treating the Lord’s return according to our notions and imaginations.

Why Is Obedience Better Than Sacrifice? Here Is the Reason

By Shan Yi

    As the moon was shedding silvery light on the earth, I, sitting at my desk, opened the Bible and read the verses in Samuel: “And Samuel said, Has Jehovah as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of Jehovah, He has also rejected you from being king” (1 Samuel 15:22–23). After reading these words, I couldn’t help but wonder: What’s the true meaning of the verse “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams”? Saul was the first king of the Israelites chosen and established by God, but he was rejected by God because he kept the best of the animals for sacrifices. What lessons are we believers in God to draw from this story? After constantly praying and seeking, I understood some of God’s will.

How Can We Gain the Power of Prayer?

By Cindy, United States

    The Bible records many stories in which situations take a turn for the better and problems are solved through the power of prayer. So, how can we gain the power of prayer? What should we pray for? Please read the article “The Power of Prayer,” which answers these questions.

How to Attend the Marriage Supper of the Lamb

By Yan Jin

 

    How can we welcome the coming of the Lord? This is a big question for us believers in God. In the last days, whether we can enter the kingdom of heaven depends on whether we can welcome the Lord’s return and attend the marriage banquet of the Lamb. In order to welcome the Lord’s return, we often watch and wait, but do we know how to watch and wait to meet the Lord? I believe the three points below can show us the way.

Spiritual Warfare: I No Longer Miss Gatherings After I See Through Satan’s Deceitful Schemes

By Xiuhan, Thailand

    Editor’s Note: Gatherings provide the best opportunity to draw close to God and obtain the truth, and yet we, as Christians, are often disrupted by the people, events and things around us, which prevent us from regularly attending gatherings and cause us to lose our normal relationship with God. These things appear to just happen by accident, but what is concealed behind them? How exactly should we deal with these people, events and things so that they do not interfere with our attendance at gatherings?

How to Face the Desolation of the Church and Walk Out of the Rainless Land

By Qiulin

    A gust of autumn wind blew through, sweeping up the fallen leaves in the yard. Sitting by the window, I frowned and pondered over these verses, “Behold, the days come … that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah” (Amos 8:11), and “And also I have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city: one piece was rained on, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered” (Amos 4:7). It can be seen from these verses that God will cause famine to befall the religious world when His followers all deviate from His way and no longer obey His words. That is to say, the desolation of the church is ordained by God, but what is God’s intention behind that? And what inspiration can we people of the last days gain? With this in mind, I came before the Lord, prayed and sought to Him. After I consulted the Bible and some spiritual books, the riddle in my heart was finally solved.

Devotional Life: 3 Ways to Get a Fresh Start With God

By Xun Qiu

    Every Christian knows that believing in God requires a normal spiritual life, namely spiritual devotion. It is the foundation of establishing a proper relationship with God and the way of practice that is absolutely necessary in the growth of our spiritual life. Then, how should we practice spiritual devotion to achieve good results? Today, let’s communicate this aspect of the truth together.

The True Meaning Behind Jesus’ Last Words “It Is Finished”

By Lingling

    That Sunday morning was just like any other as I opened my Bible and began my spiritual devotions, when I then saw Hebrews 9:28 that said: “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and to them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin to salvation.” Thinking about it carefully, I couldn’t help but feel confused. “That can’t be,” I thought. “Didn’t the Lord Jesus saying ‘It is finished’ upon the cross mean that God’s work to save man was totally finished? When the Lord returns, we can immediately enter heaven and will feast with the Lord, so how come this says that the Lord Jesus will appear again to save man when He returns? What on earth does it all mean?”

Breaking Free From Sin Is a Path to the Kingdom of God

By Aixi, Malaysia

    When I was 12, I began believing in the Lord Jesus and became a Christian. After I began believing, I actively and persistently participated in Sunday worship and Bible study groups. At Bible study meetings, we often discussed 2 Timothy 4:7–8, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: From now on there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.” We thought that, as Christians, we should imitate Paul and strive to run around and do works, because the Lord would bestow crowns of righteousness upon us. Our pastor also often encouraged us by saying the kingdom of heaven is entered through effort, and as long as we make efforts to pursue and diligently do the Lord’s work, when the Lord returns, He would rapture us up to the kingdom of heaven. These teachings became the cornerstone of my belief in God, and I swore to myself that I would do all in my power to participate in church service work so that I could accrue enough “value” to satisfy God, so that when He came, I could be raptured up into the kingdom of heaven.

What Is Christ? How to Understand the Divinity of Christ

By Xiaojuan

    I trust all of us are familiar with the word “Christ”. In the Bible, it has been recorded, “He said to them, But whom say you that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but My Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 16:15–17). Many people see these verses and say without thinking, “Christ is the incarnate Lord Jesus” or “Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God”, and others say, “Christ is the Son of man” “Christ means the anointed one.” But faced with these claims, some people are puzzled: The prophets, kings, and priests of the Old Testament, were all anointed, so are they also Christs? Just what is Christ?

Grasping 2 Principles Helps You Find the True Church

By Nanxi, South Korea

　　With disasters frequently occurring in all nations and all places, most of the prophecies of the Lord’s return have been fulfilled. Now, the whole religious world has become desolate. Believers are weak in faith and love, and most of them indulge themselves in the world and are busy with worldly things, without the desire to consider working for the Lord. The pastors and elders scheme against one another and raise jealousy and strife among themselves. They even separate into factions, form cliques, steal offerings, commit adultery, and so on. Seeing this condition, many brothers and sisters with a heart and a spirit and who genuinely believing in God have started to awaken, and realized that the churches they are in have no work of the Holy Spirit. For this reason, they begin to look everywhere for a church with the Holy Spirit’s work. However, today there being a multitude of denominations, each of them claims that they are most after the Lord’s will. But, what kind of church is the one truly after the Lord’s will? Someone says, “To evaluate whether it is the true church or not, we must look at how many members it has.”; someone else says, “We should look at whether its pastors can preach well.”; while others say, “We need to look at what religious sect it belongs to.” In a word, everyone has his own standards for measuring this. Today, I’ll share with you two principles that we need to grasp in order to find the true church.

　　We all know that, originally, the temple was full of Jehovah God’s glory. Like Jehovah God said to Solomon, “For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually” (2 Chronicles 7:16). Because of Jehovah God’s glory, the people of that time reverently served God in the temple, and none of them dared do as they wanted. If someone, against the law of Jehovah God, burst into the temple without permission, he would suffer God’s righteous punishment, even if he was the King of Israel (see 2 Chronicles 26). However, when the Lord Jesus came to work, the temple became “a den of thieves” where money was changed and oxen, sheep, and doves were sold by people. But God’s discipline didn’t come upon them. Now, we all know it’s because God had left the temple, and incarnated into flesh as the Lord Jesus to start a stage of new work outside the temple. Here we can see that only the temple with Jehovah God’s glory was the temple which conformed to God’s heart, however, when turning into a den of thieves, it was rejected by God and no longer conformed to God’s heart. Therefore, the main principle of differentiating between the true church and false churches is measuring whether it has the Holy Spirit’s work. If it does, then it is the true one after God’s heart. If it doesn’t, it is the false one. This is certain.

　　The second principle is looking at whether believers read and fellowship about God’s words in the meetings, whether the true believers’ lives grows, and moreover, whether the pastors and elders love and seek the truth, have the work of the Holy Spirit, and truly understand and practice the truth. In addition, we should also judge whether the church is ruled by the truth or by antichrists, and whether it is ruled by the ones who seek the truth or by evil people and the ones who mess around.

　　If the pastors’ and elders’ sermons can supply believers’ lives, and lead them to know God and understand God’s will, then through their sermons, believers can have more and more knowledge of God, form an increasingly normal relationship with God, get closer and closer to God, constantly cast away their satanic disposition, gradually live out a normal humanity, and so on. If these results are achieved, it means that these pastors and elders have the Holy Spirit’s work, and are certainly men pursuing the truth. Because of the guidance of good shepherds, the spiritual life of believers can gradually grow. But, if the pastors and elders only explain doctrines and the literal words of the Bible, and use sets of rules to control and bind believers, and do not communicate the truth, then believers will still know nothing after listening to their sermons for many years. At most they understand a few letters and doctrines and spiritual theories, but have no real knowledge of God and no understanding of themselves either, much less do they live out a normal human likeness in real life. Even if these pastors and elders have worked for many years, believers cannot obtain the supply of life from them. In such a situation, in order to keep their positions and jobs, they hinder believers from seeking the church that has the work of the Holy Spirit. It proves that they don’t have the Holy Spirit’s work at all, and are absolutely evil servants who oppose God.

　　Moreover, the one who truly pursues the truth surely puts his efforts into God’s words, and seeks and ponders the truth. He doesn’t blindly follow the pastors and elders; rather, he will distinguish whether their words and actions are in accordance with the truth or God’s words, or whether they are based on God’s words. If their words and actions fit with the truth, he will accept, if not, he will refuse. Such a man has a place for God in his heart, magnifies God in everything, and looks at things according to God’s words. And he understands the truth and has discernment, and is a man after God’s heart. If people only blindly believe in God, seek to fill their bellies with bread, play around, and even despise and hate the truth, then they are the tares, demons masquerading in the church. In the end, they will be the objects who are burnt by fire (see Matthew 13:30).

　　If it is those who seek the truth that wield power in the church, and they all perform their function as normal, seek the truth, grow in spiritual life, understand more truths, and have more knowledge of God, then we can be certain that there is the Holy Spirit’s work in it, and that it is the true one after God’s heart; otherwise, it surely is a false one. Because the Scriptures say, “Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Why by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:17-20).

　　In summary, the key to telling whether a church is true or false is investigating whether there is the Holy Spirit’s work in it, whether it is a gathering of people who truly believe in God and seek the truth. When we can distinguish different types of people in the church, we will easily distinguish the church according to these principles and its current situation.

Source: Daily Devotionals

4 Points to Keep a Normal Relationship With God

By Jin Qiu

　　Brothers and Sisters of Our Daily Devotionals:

　　I’m a Christian. Since I believed in the Lord, I have been enjoying the Lord’s grace and blessings, but recently I couldn’t feel the Lord’s presence. I didn’t feel enlightened when reading the Bible nor moved through prayer. When encountering things, I couldn’t act according to the Lord’s words. Losing my former faith and love, I felt confused and worried. What should I do to resolve my problem?

　　Sincerely yours,

　　Zhao Xun

　　Brother Zhao Xun:

　　I understand how you feel. I had the same problem as you in the past. Later, through reading some spiritual books, I gained some light and enlightenment and understood some things. Your situation is the consequence of your losing the work of the Holy Spirit. If you want to recover the work of the Holy Spirit, you must establish a proper relationship with God. There are four ways for you to achieve that.

Is Once Saved Always Saved True? Here Is the Answer

By Emily

　　The Lord Jesus’ redemptive work has spread to the ends of the earth, reached every home and become a household name, and it is also because of the Lord Jesus’ redemption that mankind has survived until today. There are many brothers and sisters who back up the viewpoint of “once saved, always saved,” with the words of the apostle Paul, “For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation” (Romans 10:10). They think: Since the Lord Jesus redeemed us through crucifixion, we have already been absolved of all our sins and saved by our faith, and once saved, we are always saved, and so long as we endure until the end, we will be directly raptured into the heavenly kingdom when the Lord returns. However, some other brothers and sisters can’t help but question: “Is it really so easy for us to be saved? Can we attain salvation and enter into the kingdom of heaven through faith alone?”

Is the Hope of Rapture to meet Jesus Christ Achievable?

Li Huan

    Like many brothers and sisters who truly believe in the Lord, I have been longing for the return of the Lord Jesus, holding to the words in the Bible, “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Thus, we have been obsessively looking at the sky, yearning that a day will come when the Lord Jesus will take us into the clouds to meet with Him in the air, and then we can enter the kingdom of heaven and gain eternal life. Many years, however, have passed, and the signs of the second coming of the Lord have basically fulfilled, but we never see a believer be caught up to the heavens. It makes me wonder: Is this hope realistic? Does this word of Paul represent God’s will? If not, then aren’t we imaging it out of thin air? I have looked through the Bible, yet nothing of the kind that the Lord Jesus ever said was found. God is faithful, and He has said, “He is as good as His word, and His word shall be accomplished, and that which is accomplished lasts forever.” What God has promised will definitely be accomplished and fulfilled, as His word is the truth, the way. Now that the Lord Jesus never made such a statement, and man’s words cannot represent words of God, the Lord has His own will and plan on how to collect Christians into His kingdom when He comes back. Yet Paul was merely a man, a gospel-preaching apostle who had ever pursued the Lord Jesus and His disciples, and later was conquered after being blinded by the Lord’s great light. Even though Paul’s words were recorded in the Bible, and part of them were inspired by the Holy Spirit conformed to the truth, they were still not the words of God. What’s more, some of them were not the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and had no basis in God’s words, but mostly originated from man’s notions and imaginations and were colored by the absurdity of man’s mind. That’s why we cannot take man’s words as the basis for receiving the second coming of Jesus Christ. So, when seeking the issue “whether or not we can be caught up into the air,” we should use God’s words and His work in the Bible as the basis, which is in accord with God’s will.