I saw God's will accomplished in Shipai Church after 22 years

Witness in the name of the Lord Jesus to witness the process of a church from being weak to strong. This church is the Shipai Church of the Taiwan General Assembly. It is located in Taipei City, Taiwan, with about 300 people. It was established in 1977 and opened in 2020. Divide Tein-Mu Church.

the once weak church

Around 1999, due to disagreements within the church, Shipai Church experienced serious mutual criticism and criticism among staff members and even believers. Even some loyal staff members and spirits, and the pastoral preachers at that time worked hard for the church. Praying fervently to reconcile the church lest there be room for the devil, but there seems to be no end to the exercise.

God raises up the workers He wants

During the crisis in 1999, some people with ability and gifts left the ranks of the holy work one after another because of their injustice and dissatisfaction with the church. "Then, who else can be the new responsible person of the church?" At that time, the three new leaders, the academic affairs and general affairs, were selected by young people who had just come to Shipai Church from other places. The person in charge is a controversial figure at the center of the storm.

Pre-service education for God's workers

At that time, the young academic director, when he was in college, God seemed to give him a "pre-service education". He originally studied in the Department of Physics. In 1989, when he was a sophomore in college, he had a subject "Mechanics" that was not satisfactory in the mid-term exam. He was at risk of being taken as a student. Mechanics is considered a block, that is, if you fail, you can't study electromagnetism. If you can't study electromagnetism, you can't study optics, and you won't be able to graduate from college within four years. However, the drill given by God is: the final exam date of mechanics is on a certain Monday, and the previous Sunday is the day of outdoor activities for all religion education where he is in charge of the elementary class of religious education in Sanduo Church. Keep your father in mind.” So I dedicate my precious Sunday to the Lord that was supposed to be used for the final exam sprint.

Sunday's religious education activities ended, the shadow of the sun was already slanted, and when he returned to the school dormitory, the university students in the same dormitory looked at them with disdain and wonder, and shook their heads, as if they were accusing this brother of what church activities he was attending when he was about to die. . Knowing that disaster was imminent, this brother was extremely helpless. He first called his family on the public phone and asked his family to help him to pray for the final exam. After that, he went back to the dormitory to open the textbook. After praying, God guided him to randomly select ten key points and topics. solution, and then prepare the ten questions. When you're ready, go to bed.

The next Monday, when the mechanics exam questions were released, there were only four big calculation questions in the question paper. He found out that they were all four of the ten questions he had checked unconsciously last night, so he quickly wrote down the complete list. The answer, because God gave him success, so there is still a lot of time to answer, he gently hummed 62 hymns. In the end, nearly two-thirds of the class was taken, but he passed the exam successfully. This testimony of grace, which I learned many years later, is God's instructing that all of the Lord's work must "set the focus of faith"!

Timid worker asks God to resign as leader

A few years later, it was distributed to Taipei City to serve as a teaching post. God's beautiful arrangement, in June 1999, took over the responsibility of the teaching affairs of Shipai Church. At a time of panic, he was even more afraid when faced with the rumble of cannons at the first meeting of believers! At that time, he had taken over as a middle school teacher, and he often sneaked back to the rental house at noon to pray and "resign" to God. But the amazing thing is that every time he cried out to God about the person in charge, the sky suddenly poured torrential rain, and at the same time, a terrible thunder was struck! Feeling the wrath of God, he did not dare to resign, wiped away his tears, and went back to school to continue the afternoon lessons.

Touring driver's Dream

One night in July 1999, he had a "touring driver's  dream".

In my dream, I saw a big bus, which is unusually big, it should be twice the size of a normal tourist bus. He saw the comrades from Shipai Church getting into the car one after another, but his face was filled with an excited smile that he had not seen in a long time (the smiles of believers had not been seen in Shipai Church for many years at that time). He could feel everyone's happy mood, "We're going to play!" is the reason for the excited smile.

He also got into the car involuntarily, but he also "involuntarily" walked towards the driver's seat. For such a large tour bus, the driver's seat is of course unusually large! He began to complain: "I knew I couldn't drive!" And he looked at his figure, and he looked like a child! Suddenly he was carried into the driver's seat, but the problem came again: the unusually large steering wheel, which seemed to have a diameter of one meter, and then the hand could not reach the gear lever, and the foot could not press the accelerator and brake, so he began to complain again. I can't drive this car myself.

In desperation, he looked back at everyone seated, and found that everyone was excited and waiting to play. He looked at him with anticipation, as if to say, "Ah, do you want to play?" At the moment when everyone saw him, he saw that just behind his driver's seat, there was a giant in a white robe. He didn't dare to look up at his face, because he knew it was the "Lord Jesus".

He immediately turned back and looked straight ahead. The huge windshield greeted him in darkness, but the headlights of the tour bus were bright, illuminating the "mountain road" in the darkness. That's right! There is a mountain wall on the left and a cliff on the right. How can such a big car drive on a narrow mountain road? I am new to driving, what should I do? How can a child drive?

Suddenly I found Jesus standing behind the driver's seat. He was holding the back of the driver's seat with both hands, but now he slowly raised his right hand and pointed straight to the front of the tour bus. In a gentle but firm tone, he said: " Just drive!" Unexpectedly, these words carried incomparable power, and the car started instantly, and the car moved in the hands of the child! The oversized tour bus can be handled with ease in the hands of a child, winding on the dark mountain road, and every corner is so perfect and precise! I don't know how long it took, after the last turn, the tour bus drove up to the top of a mountain. The top of the mountain was flat. He saw "the sky suddenly opened!" The sky suddenly brightened, and a hole appeared in the middle of the white clouds directly above. , that blue sky! so blue! Everyone got out of the car excitedly, enjoying the beautiful scenery, and then he also got out of the car and woke up from his dream.

Awakened from the dream, the church remains weak

At that time, he only knew that the Lord would protect and help me "get out of the car safely"! However, when God has God, although he will step down for the next six years, he will continue to be the "pastoral person in charge" after three years, up and down, until he officially resigns on January 1, 2022, which is 22 years before and after. In the years since 1999, when I dreamed, the church is still weak, and the number of people in the church has declined, but the bruised reed will not be broken, and the stubborn lamp will not be blown out.

God's time has come

In September 2015, God moved the office to promote the daily reading of the Bible; in September 2018, it promoted the family altar; on May 18, 2020, due to the epidemic in Taipei City, the city was closed for physical gatherings, so the church did not have any experience in live broadcast meetings. Online meetings are held every day, and the pastor-in-waiting preaches live broadcast by operating the machine by himself. In order to encourage believers to read the Bible more attentively, the evangelist preached according to the daily Bible reading progress in the daily online live meeting. At that time, the daily Bible reading progress happened to read the book of Exodus, so it was slowly unblocked after four months, and the whole church members had already Read all the Torah solidly!

Heavenly Achievement

October 2020 was the last charismatic evangelistic meeting before the separation of Tianmu Church. God affirmed the work done by His servants with the Holy Spirit, and rewarded 16 fellow spirits and seekers with the precious Holy Spirit, as if saying: "Go forward bravely! Don't be afraid!". Then, Tianmu Church was officially established on November 1, 2020, striding forward bravely with the grace of the Lord!

Looking back on the touch of the Lord's grace

Until today, when I look back and count God’s grace in detail, I realize that God has already arranged and planned everything along the way. In fact, the rise and fall of the church has already been prepared by God:

1. God will have pre-employment training for workers:

If God wants to use him, he will arrange training sessions in advance. The experience of the 1989 Mechanics Exam taught His workers the importance of "focusing on the key points" rather than being creative in God's work, laying the foundation that in the future, in God's work, the truth of the Bible should be used as the criterion, rather than one's own imagination. creative act.

It is also a decision made after prayer, guided by the Holy Spirit, based on the teachings of the Bible. And this is the focus of the Shipai Church and even the Tianmu Church, which is to lead all the Lord's disciples to "read the Bible chapter by chapter every day."

2. Twenty-two years of patiently waiting for God’s actions:

On the one hand, "Dream of Touring Bus" comforts the hearts of young workers, promising the answer of "The Lord will be with you", knowing that he will step down safely. In addition, the "opening of heaven" is a sign of the fulfillment of God's promise, which means that the church will become a benchmark for other churches according to God's will and time. But no one knows that this time has to span twenty-two years, and the time has not come, it will not be achieved, and we must wait patiently. Therefore, the teaching of the ministry's attitude is to "wait patiently", patiently follow the pillar of cloud and fire, and don't walk around by yourself.

3. There are times when we are weak, and times when we are strong:

"Dream of Touring Cars", the sky is dark and the mountain road is rugged and winding, why didn't God give an order to repair the road in front of his feet? Because everything is in His grasp. In addition to faith and hard work, the leadership of the church must also accept what God has given. Don’t complain, blame others, and blame God for not taking action. Why not make the church prosperous? You must know that the weakness of the church in front of you is also a kind of permission from the Lord.

4. God is with God, and God reigns:

In "Dream of a Tour Bus", although the road is winding and steep, with cliffs on one side and cliffs on the other, "every one is so perfect" because it is God who is in control and who is in power. It looks like the driver is a worker of God, but Jesus is standing behind the driver's seat. His words "Go ahead" are actually "I'm responsible." What a great grace! Therefore, bravely accept the work entrusted by God! Because God is doing the work, not man. It also proves that every word of God carries power, and it is only by relying on His word that anything can be accomplished.

5. Church leadership has a direction:

The tour bus representing the church in "Dream of Touring Bus" is "going forward", and its final destination is the "top of the mountain", not downhill or valley. Finally, there is a beautiful "daylight", and the scenery that catches your eye is a long jump.

Sixth, the opportunity for heaven to open:

Twenty-two years later, the fulfillment of God's promise lies in the church's return to the basic beliefs of the Bible, namely: promoting the daily reading of the Bible and promoting the family altar. When the proportion of daily Bible reading in the whole church increases, mission awareness will naturally appear, everyone will work hard to spread the gospel, and everyone will be a member of the gospel group, and the church will prosper. In addition, the whole church obeys the truster of the truth, "preaching in the pastor". Everyone does what the Bible says. Just like in the miracle of Jesus turning water into wine, He said, "Fill the jar with water" and then scoop it out. After that, "the water turned into wine", and when it was filled with water, it was to carry out Jesus' command. Just like when Jesus came out to preach the gospel, although he had no sin and came before John the Baptist, in order to "fulfill all righteousness", when he came up from the water, the Bible also said that "heaven was opened for him", and there are also A voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased!"

7. Driving turned out to be a child

Such a huge tourist bus, why is the driver a child? The head of the academic affairs in the dream, why did God let him see himself as a child?

When Jesus was about to enter the city of Jerusalem during Good Friday, He asked his disciples to bring a little donkey to ride on. Why a foal? Because he "knows nothing and has no experience", he will only cry with God, just like this brother, but he will only rely on God. The workers that God uses are often people who know nothing and have no experience. Just like Paul, "God's grace is always perfect in his weakness", so Paul likes to brag about his weakness, because When you are weak, you are strong when you are.

Epilogue

Thank God, Shipai Church’s rise from decline to prosperity is not due to anyone, nor is it the implementation of any secrets, but “God has already prepared.” He knew that Shipai Church would experience an epidemic, and he knew that during the epidemic, it would Get to the point, then be strong according to His will. In this, all the people just follow the script, and the script ends up being the prosperity of the church. May all glory and praise be in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen!