What Is the Meaning of Christmas, and Are You Truly Worshiping the Lord Jesus?

By Siyuan

The Origins of Christmas

Every year, as Christmas approaches, shops on the street arrange a dazzling display of Christmas presents, with Santa Claus and Christmas trees, and so on. Festooned in trees and on buildings there are many-colored lights, and whole cities are decorated with lanterns and colored hangings, and everywhere there is joy and excitement. To Christianity, Christmas is a very special holiday, and several months before Christmas, many churches will begin to busy themselves preparing everything necessary for the Christmas holiday. On Christmas Day, the churches are filled, and brothers and sisters get involved in the celebrations, eating Christmas dinner, putting on performances and worshiping the Lord Jesus, and so on. Everyone’s face is flushed with happiness. However, when we get together in joyous gatherings to celebrate the Lord Jesus’ birth, do we understand the meaning of Christmas? Perhaps brothers and sisters will say, “The Lord Jesus was nailed upon the cross to redeem all mankind, and so as to remember and celebrate the Lord Jesus’ birth, Christians established Christmas. Though the specific day on which the Lord Jesus was born is not recorded in the Bible, Christmas gradually became a universal holiday in the wake of the expansion of Jesus Christ’s gospel.” We may have known this, but do we know God’s love and His will for us that was actually hidden behind the birth of the Lord Jesus? And how should we approach Christmas in a way that is after the Lord’s heart?

4 Must-Knows for Christians on How to Pray

By Yang Yang, China

Brothers and sisters, we all know that praying to God is the most direct way for Christians to communicate with God. This is why, aside from morning and evening prayers, we pray at many other times such as when reading the Bible, when in gatherings, observing the Sabbath, or when we encounter difficulties. But are our prayers in line with the Lord’s will and will He lend us an ear? This is something that is important for every brother and sister to understand; otherwise, no matter how many times we pray or for how long, these prayers will not gain God’s approval. In fact, the Lord Jesus gave us these answers long ago. Let’s seek together on this aspect of the truth!

There Is Nothing God Cannot Do (Part 1)

Bianhua

Zhen’ai answered her daughter’s call, her face beaming with joy as she awaited the good news.

“Hi mom, I’ve spoken with my mother-in-law’s relative to see whether or not they could allocate you and dad a ground floor apartment, as access would be a lot easier for you, but there are so many people in the village who want to live in ground floor apartments, and the village cadre says that it’s just not possible.” Zhen’ai’s daughter patiently explained.

“Oh no, what shall we do?” Zhen’ai’s expression drooped markedly, and it was a long time before she finally hung up the phone. Zhen’ai lay back against the sofa, frowning, and every now and then her daughter’s words would replay in her mind. She thought of how they would soon have to move to a high floor in a high-rise building with an elevator, and she agonized over it.

How to Practice Quieting Our Hearts Before God

By Xiyu

The Bible says, “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints” (1Co 14:33). From this verse we can see that God likes us to quiet ourselves before Him in all things. Only when we are quiet in front of God will we feel that our hearts are closer to Him and will we achieve growth in our spiritual life. However, in real life, we cannot quiet our hearts before God due to various factors. Most of the time, our hearts are occupied by outside things such as jobs and families; or our minds are disturbed by the complexities of interpersonal relations, such as friction with our brothers and sisters and conflicts between us and our families; or we think about the interests of our flesh while expending and working for the Lord. These things leave us unable to quiet ourselves before God. I once was like this. After I read some content on a gospel website and listened to several brothers’ and sisters’ fellowship, I found out three ways to quiet myself before God and I gained a lot. Here I will share them with you.

The 5 Prophecies in the Bible Concerning the Lord Jesus’ Return Have Been Fulfilled

By Zheng Xun

We are now at the end of the last days, and there are many brothers and sisters who believe sincerely in the Lord and await His return who must surely be thinking this question: In chapter 22, verse 12 of Revelation, the Lord Jesus prophesied, “And, behold, I come quickly.” The Lord promised us that He would come again in the last days, so has He now returned? This question really is so important to us Christians, so how exactly are we to know whether the Lord has really returned or not? In actual fact, the Lord Jesus has already told us through biblical prophecies, and as long as we take all the facts together and ponder them in earnest, then we will find the answer.

To Be an Honest Person Is Truly Great! (Audio Essay)

One day in 2004 a friend said to me: “Every day you get up early and are busy all day cutting cloth, you exhaust yourself, yet you still don’t make money. Today’s society relies on the tongue to make money, like the popular saying goes: ‘It is better to have a slick tongue than to have strong arms and legs.’ You know that I’m now engaging in the direct sales business selling makeup products, not only does it make me beautiful, I also don’t need to exert too much effort each day, I just need to speak a few words with my customers and sell my products in order to make a lot of money. Why don’t you change jobs and come sell makeup products with me?” I looked my friend over, she really was prettier than before, and then I thought about how I had been a dressmaker for over 10 years, how I hadn’t really made any money at it, and how I wasn’t getting any younger. If it really was like what my friend was saying, if by switching to a job where I sold makeup products I could make easy money, and could even become younger and prettier and win the high praises of others, then that would be much better! As I thought about this, I told her right then and there that I was willing to become a part of the company. Later, after my inspection, I ordered over 3,000 yuan worth of products, and I started my job in the cosmetics industry as a beauty consultant for this company.

Knowing God Is the Path to Fearing God and Shunning Evil

Everyone should examine anew his life of believing in God to see whether, in the pursuit of God, he has truly understood, truly comprehended, and truly come to know God, whether he truly knows what attitude God bears to the various types of human beings, and whether he truly understands what God is working upon him and how God defines his every act. This God, who is by your side, guiding the direction of your progress, ordaining your destiny, and supplying your needs—how much do you, in the final analysis, understand and how much do you really know about Him? Do you know what He works on you every single day? Do you know the principles and purposes on which He bases His every action? Do you know how He guides you? Do you know the means by which He supplies you? Do you know the methods with which He leads you? Do you know what He wishes to obtain from you and what He wishes to achieve in you? Do you know the attitude He takes to the multifarious ways in which you behave? Do you know whether you are a person beloved of Him? Do you know the origin of His joy, anger, sorrow, and delight, the thoughts and ideas behind them, and His essence? Do you know, ultimately, what kind of God is this God that you believe in? Are these and other questions of the sort something that you have never understood or thought about? In pursuing your belief in God, have you, through real appreciation and experience of God’s words, cleared up your misunderstandings about Him? Have you, after receiving God’s discipline and chastening, arrived at genuine submission and caring? Have you, in the midst of God’s chastisement and judgment, come to know the rebelliousness and satanic nature of man and gained a modicum of understanding about God’s holiness? Have you, under the guidance and enlightenment of God’s words, begun to have a new outlook of life? Have you, in the midst of the trial sent by God, felt His intolerance for man’s offenses as well as what He requires of you and how He is saving you? If you do not know what it is to misunderstand God, or how to clear up this misunderstanding, then one can say that you have never entered into true communion with God and have never understood God, or at least one can say you have never wished to understand Him.

I Am Following the Footsteps of the Lamb

                                                 

Shen Ai, Singapore

When I was 18 years old my mother got ill, and so she started believing in the Lord Jesus. At the time, I knew the Lord Jesus’ name but didn’t understand anything about faith in the Lord. It was quite a coincidence that I later went to work for a company where most of the employees were Christians. Through interacting with them, I saw how they treated people with love and patience, and I came to believe that Christians were a pretty good bunch of people.

139-B-4 Sermons and Fellowship About God’s Word “Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” (V)

In what we have just read of the word of God, it is said: “When it comes to the word ‘judgment,’ you will think of the words that Jehovah spoke to all the places and the words of rebuke that Jesus spoke to the Pharisees. Though these words are stern, they are not God’s judgment of man; these words are only those spoken by God within different environments, that is, different settings.”

139-B-1 Sermons and Fellowship About God’s Word “Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” (V)

“The work of the last days is to separate all according to their kind, to conclude the management plan of God, for the time is near and the day of God has come. God brings all who have entered His kingdom, that is, all those who have been loyal to Him to the end, into the age of God Himself. However, before the coming of the age of God Himself, the work that God desires to do is not to observe the deeds of man or to inquire about the lives of man, but to judge his rebellion, for God shall purify all those who come before His throne. All those who have followed the footsteps of God to this day are those who have come before the throne of God, hence all who accept the last of God’s work are those to be purified by God. In other words, all those who accept the last of God’s work are those who will be judged by God.

139-B-3 Sermons and Fellowship About God’s Word “Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” (V)

What does man ultimately gain from experiencing God’s judgment and chastisement? What does God want to fulfill? Someone says it is for man to gain the truth and life. What kind of life does he gain? This new life is essentially a life that obeys God, a life that loves God, and a life that fears God. It is a new life. With this new life, you are willing to obey God as you understand the truth. With this new life, you will fear God no matter what happens to you or whatever choices you encounter. You wouldn’t dare to offend or defy God. With this new life, you will never go against the truth or defy God’s will. If you committed a transgression, you would be tormented by your conscience. You would feel uneasy and indebted to God. You would slap yourself in the face, hate yourself and curse at yourself. All of these are true behaviors of your new life. With this new life, if man were to sin again, his reaction would be drastically different from that before receiving the new life. How did this new life come about? It came from knowing God, from understanding many truths. Some people say, “Understanding the truth doesn’t do me any good. I feel so exploited and humiliated when I practice the truth. There is nothing in it for me.” Is there really nothing in it for you? You don’t see it because you are blind. This is a new life. This is how a new life comes about. When you have this new life, try hanging out in a ballroom, gambling in a casino, beating someone up or cursing at someone, see how it acts up inside. Having life is a far cry from not having life. It is so different!

The Ordeal in the Devil’s Den Made Me Taste God’s Love More Deeply

Fenyong    Shanxi Province

From my childhood, I lived under my parents’ best care, but in my heart I often felt lonely without reliance, and there was always an unexplainable distress binding me, which I couldn’t get free from. I often asked myself, “Why does man live? How on earth should man live?” But I never got the answer. In 1999, I fortunately accepted Almighty God’s end-time work. From then on, under the feeding and supplying of God’s word, my lonely heart received comfort and I always had a feeling of returning home, feeling very peaceful and secure. Only then did I know what happiness is. Later, I read God’s words, “The world in mankind’s heart where there is no God’s position is dark, hopeless, and empty. … God’s place and God’s life cannot be replaced by any man. What mankind needs is not only a just society where they have enough to fill their stomach and everyone is equal and free. What they need is God’s salvation and God’s life supply for them.” (from “God Is Sovereign over the Destiny of All Mankind” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) Then, I knew that what a living man needs is not eating well, dressing well, or enjoying well, but is God’s salvation and God’s supply to man’s life. Only thus can the emptiness in man’s heart be solved. I finally got the answer to the question I had been puzzled about for a long time: God is feeding every living being among all things. Man should live by relying on God and also live for God, and such a life is meaningful, because man’s life originates from God and God is the only redemption to man, the only hope for man, and even more the reliance for the existence of man. As I read more and more of God’s word, I understood some truths gradually. Later, I performed duty in the church and often had meetings and fellowshipped with the brothers and sisters. I lived fully every day. However, a sudden arrest by the police broke my tranquil life, pushing me into the devil’s den….

139-A-6 Sermons and Fellowship About God’s Word “Those Incompatible With Christ Are Surely Opponents of God”

Let’s continue fellowshiping the word of God. “Prior to contact with Christ, you may believe that your disposition has been entirely transformed, you may believe that you are a loyal follower of Christ, and you may believe that you are most worthy to receive the blessings of Christ. For you have traveled many roads, done much work, and brought forth much fruit, so you must be a person who receives the crown in the end.” Are there a lot of people that speak these kinds of words? There are many of these kinds of people. In the Age of Grace, there were many people like this.

Christians’ Practice of Loving God

By Wenjing

Many Christians are of the opinion that as long as we sacrifice our whole lives to work and expend for the Lord, we’re the ones who love God and satisfy God, and should be praised by Him. Is this view after God’s heart? These days, through seeking and fellowshiping with some brothers and sisters, I have a new knowledge of how to love and satisfy God. Here I’d like to share it with you.

The Dark Prison Life Made Me Love God More Resolutely

Meng Yong    Shanxi Province

I’m honest by nature and always bullied by others. So I tasted all the coldness of the human world and felt life was empty and meaningless. After I believed in Almighty God, through reading God’s word and living the church life, I enjoyed the peace and happiness I had never had and saw that the brothers and sisters in the Church of Almighty God love each other and are close as family members. This made me know that only God is righteous and only in the Church of Almighty God, there is light. Through personally experiencing the work of Almighty God for several years, I truly tasted that Almighty God’s word can indeed change and save man and Almighty God is love and salvation. In order that more people could enjoy God’s love and pursue to receive God’s salvation, the brothers and sisters and I rushed to cooperate in the gospel work. Unexpectedly, we were arrested and persecuted by the CCP government.

Let Go of Ideal, and Obey God’s Sovereignty and Arrangements

We each harbor our own ideals: Some want to be scientists; some want to be doctors; some want to be singers; some want to be stars and celebrities, and so on. With a passion, everyone has his lofty aspirations. Ideals seem to become fulcrum in our lives. We, with ideals, labor and pay the price. However, after experiencing vicissitudes, we find that these ideals are fine, but the truth hurts. For the majority of us who struggle for ideals, ideals are only wonderful dreams that we can never achieve.

138-A-1 Sermons and Fellowship About God’s Word “Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” (III)

“The work of the last days is to separate all according to their kind, to conclude the management plan of God, for the time is near and the day of God has come. God brings all who have entered His kingdom, that is, all those who have been loyal to Him to the end, into the age of God Himself. However, before the coming of the age of God Himself, the work that God desires to do is not to observe the deeds of man or to inquire about the lives of man, but to judge his rebellion, for God shall purify all those who come before His throne. All those who have followed the footsteps of God to this day are those who have come before the throne of God, hence all who accept the last of God’s work are those to be purified by God. In other words, all those who accept the last of God’s work are those who will be judged by God.

Three Aspects of Prayers Every Day Can Make You Closer to God

Every one of us who has faith in the Lord has known and experienced that prayer is very important, but we seldom think about whether our prayers are in accord with the Lord’s will. Some time ago, I read some spiritual books on the Internet and came to know that if we wish to obtain truth and life, we must meet three aspects of prayers every day. When I consciously followed the way given in the book, I actually got some unexpected reward. Here I shall share my gain with you.

The first aspect: pondering God’s words and seeking the truth when praying.