In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of serving the Lord wholeheartedly. He refers to 1 Corinthians 4:1-2, which teaches that believers are called to be servants of Christ and stewards of His mysteries. The preacher emphasizes the need for trustworthiness in stewardship. He also discusses the significance of making time for the Lord and seeking His guidance in order to effectively lead and teach others. Additionally, the preacher highlights the importance of doing things to please God, rather than simply going through the motions.

I consider myself to just a recruit, new in the law and sometimes it's a little embarrassing to stand in front of you as some of the seasoned workers of the law. But anyway, his greatest vision. Now the song we sang this morning was really an encouragement. You know that song that Richard Haynes and his family were singing this morning. And it says that, when I say, cannot, then he say, oh yes, you what, you can. So that was really an encouragement. And you know, after listening to, I've got a call Monday and Tuesday for the hire and yesterday for the lands and I came to the conclusion, I think the best thing for me is just to disqualify myself. But brothers and sisters, we are caught. That's the whole thing. I'm caught and you're caught. And there's no way we can say no to the Lord. We are His. We are caught to serve and there's no way out. So the sooner we learn to serve Him, the better. So should we just look at a few parts in the scriptures, please. Can we turn to 1 Corinthians 4. 1 Corinthians 4. We'll read verse 1 and 2. Let a man regard us in this manner as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries above. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. Now the NIV has a different way of saying it and it reads this way. So then men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must be found faithful. Then can we turn to John, Gospel of John 3. And we'll read verse 26 and verse 27. Gospel of John 3, 26 and 27. And they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have bore witness, behold, he is baptizing and all are coming to him. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from above. And let's turn to John 13. John 13, we'll read from verses 3, 4, and 5. John 13, 3, 4, 5. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come forth from God and was going back to God, rose from supper and laid aside his garments. And taking a towel, he girded himself about. Then he poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and wiped them with the towel with which he was girded. And let's go to verse 12, 12 to 17. And so when he had washed their feet and taken his garments, he reclined at the table again and said to them, Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Lord and Teacher, and you are right, for so I am. If I am then the Lord and Teacher, wash your feet. You also ought to wash one another's feet, for I give you an example. But you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, neither is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. And then finally we'll turn to the book of Hebrews, chapter 3. Two phrases from Hebrews, chapter 3. A phrase from verse 5 and verse 6. Now Moses was faithful in all his house, God's house, as a servant. And then the next phrase. Christ was faithful as a son over his house, whose house we are. Brothers and sisters, the topic this afternoon is about this administering the church. And this word administering or administer to me is sort of a high sounding word. You know, administer, administrate. It's really quite official in its title. But I think we can put it more in a more scriptural way. It's how to be servants of Christ and stewards of the mystery of God. How to be servants and stewards of the mystery of God. Now this church, this word church, the way I understand it, is not a good translation from the original Greek. Even though it's not a good translation, but throughout the century, this word church has been abused and misused. You often hear people say, my church, or that church, or we go to church. If you go this way and that way and you'll find a church there. We often use that. If you graduated from a seminary or a cemetery, then you will have the privilege or right to take a church. My church, your church, that church. And there are those who have the qualification to take a church. I was taught on what is going on in the Philippines. They had a question and answer period with him. And one of the brothers asked him pointedly this question. Brother Scott, how do you consider a church as a church? What is a church? And he paused for a few seconds and he responded this way. A church is an assembly of God's people where the headship and authority of Christ is established and operated. Let me repeat it again. A church is an assembly of God's people where the headship and authority of Christ is established and operated. That is the church according to the scripture. Christ is the head and we are the body. We can put it another way. Wherever the church, wherever the headship of Christ and authority of Christ is established, there is the church. There is the church. Because the head cannot be operated without the body. And the body cannot function without the head. So, it is a matter of life. It is not an organization. It's life. Now, if the headship of Christ is established and his authority is established and operated, then we know for sure that that church is responding to the head. It's coordinating with the head. It's agreeing with the head. It's in harmony with, in short, one with the head. You cannot separate the head from the body or the body from the head. The two are one. So, therefore, it's a living organism. So, I think that is very important. When we consider this church, we know it's not a place where you have four walls and with steps and a steeple and pews and pockets. It's not that. It's where Christ is head. Where his headship and authority is established and operated. That is the church we are talking about this afternoon. Now, the next thing is this matter of ministering or administering. What do we mean by administering the church? Now, to be an administrator, you have to be given something or entrusted with something to administer. Ordinarily, in most places, in most churches, people are kept busy with programs, projects, things to do, things to do. For instance, for those who are in responsibility, the Lord entrusted with something that's very precious and very dear to his heart. His redeemed people. For us to care, to feed, to nurture, to protect, to lead to God. In other words, it is not an easy task. If the Lord is not the head and to give direction, there's nothing we can do. There's nothing we can do. Now, to me, to feed, to guide, to care, to protect the Lord's people, the sheep of God, is very, very vital and very, very important. But I think there's something more than that. I think to be an administrator of the church is to administer the church in such a way so that the headship and authority of Christ can be brought into view. In other words, to administer the church is not to administer people. It's simply to bring in the Lordship of Christ. To bring in his headship among his people properly. So, in other words, for the headship of the Lord Jesus to be operated and his authority established, the church has one lesson to learn. And that is a lesson of total submission to the head. And that's the hardest lesson for all of us. Because you have your ideas. I have my ideas, how a church ought to run. We have programs and projects, things that we think we ought to do. But for instance, the lesson as the church, the body of Christ, I think that one lesson we learn, individual as well as together, corporately, is how to submit and how to obey. It's through the church obedience and submission that the headship and authority can be managed. Because there's no one to challenge him. We simply allow him to be the head. As our brother Paul says, his government, his authority is established. He's in full control. Now when we touch this administering the church, we touch this matter of authority. To be the head is to be an authority. There is a brother in our fellowship. His daughter, Dickie, about four years old, is very, very bright. Very bright. One day while they were eating and she stood up and she said to the family, she said, I'm not afraid of anyone. And then the father said to her, he said, aren't you afraid of God? She said, no. He said, aren't we his children? As children we don't afraid of God, but parents, because there's a love relationship. Then he said, he said, aren't you afraid of me, your daddy? Because when you were bad, I took you into the bathroom, I spanked you. And she said, right, that's right. He said, when you took me into the bathroom, you spanked me because it was when I was bad. It's okay. It's okay. Now, brother and sister, there is love, but there's also what? Discipline. When it comes to discipline, you see, authority is behind it. Love is behind it. Now, when the two sons of Zebedee, when they came to the Lord and they asked for those two places of authority, one on the right of the Lord, one on the left of the Lord, and both of them, I'm sure we know that they were very much aware of this matter of authority. Some of them, they follow Jesus, they know this matter of authority is a very important thing. And so they came to the Lord, and they came to the right person, and they asked the Lord to grant them one to sit on the right one to sit on the left. And the Lord did not say they were asking for the wrong thing. The Lord did not say they were asking for the wrong thing. The Lord simply said, can you drink the cup that I drink? Can you be baptized with the baptism with which I'm baptized? That's all the Lord answered. And their reply was, yes, we are able. And the Lord answered again, He said, yes, you shall drink the cup that I drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism with which I'm baptized. But, it's not for me to give you this place or that place. It's reserved for those who have been prepared. So, apparently, brother and sister, there is such a thing as authority. And the only thing that we know is that those who are really in authority, they don't know they are in authority. Because right after this matter of John and James came to the Lord, the Lord immediately followed and said, the Gentiles, they have a different way of ruling. Earthly way. And He said, we, you, as God's people, you, my own, you shall be different from them. The way we are recognizing authority and the way the world recognizes authority are two totally different, two different spheres, two different systems, two different kingdoms, contrary one to another. And we heard again and again this week, those two systems, those two kingdoms can never meet. There is no compromise. And the Lord said, to be great is to be what? To be a servant. And to be a first is to be a slave of all. And the Lord gave Himself as an example. He said, the Son of Man came not to be served, but to what? To serve others. And to get His life as a ransom for many. So, brothers and sisters, that's what we learn from the Scripture. To serve is to be nothing, to be a slave. Now, the next question is, who can serve? Who is qualified to serve? Now, we think, no one is qualified. No one is qualified. You know, I think, for those who are serving the Lord, we always have this paradox. In one sense, we know we are called to serve. And we know we should serve. And yet, deep down in our spirit, there is that same thing that we are not able to do. I cannot, I cannot. And I think this too, you know, the paradoxes will go through for the rest of our life. In one sense, the Lord said, you are to serve me. I redeem you for to be my own. I deliver you out of Egypt. I brought you out here that you might serve me. And yet, on the other hand, there is that consciousness that we are not able. That we are not able. And therefore, if there is any ministry, any service, it is not of ourselves. Now, let's just move on to a couple of things that might help us in this matter of learning how to serve in the church and brothers and sisters. The first thing I believe, brothers and sisters, is this matter of making ourselves available to the Lord, availability. Or let's put it another way, a heart of a true servant, a heart of a true servant. Now, Moses was a faithful servant. When the Lord told him to go to Pharaoh, he went to Pharaoh. When the Lord told him to do this, he did it. In the wilderness, the Lord said, you come up to the mountain, he went up to the mountain. The Lord said, you go down, he went down. The Lord said, you tell this to Aaron and to his sons and to Israel, and he did. And because of his faithfulness, he was given that heavenly pattern of the tabernacle. And it was Moses' time was at God's disposal. Whenever God wants him, he's there. Now, in this country, time is a rare commodity, a rare commodity. And I think I mentioned this once before. Someone told me that when you're in England, you walk. And when you come to Canada, you run. And when you come to USA, you're breathless. You have no time for anything. You have no time for anything. So, brothers and sisters, for those who want to take a place of responsibility and serve the Lord, we must be willing to give our time totally to the Lord. If we don't give our time to the Lord, to seek his mind, to seek his will, how can we lead others? You know, in Timothy and Titus, we are told, those who are in the responsibility should be able to teach. If we are not taught by the Lord, how can we teach others? If we don't go to the Lord for direction, how can we direct others? It's impossible. We are blind leading the blind. And so, brothers and sisters, we must be willing to give our time to the Lord. Then we can give our time to the brothers and sisters. Now, of course, brothers and sisters in the fellowship, they give their time to the Lord. I'm sure they pray, they read their Bible, they come to the fellowship. But for those in the responsibility, we have to give more. I like what Father Neal says. Those in the responsibility, they are not perfect. They are not perfect. They are very ordinary brothers and sisters, but they were just those who were willing to give a little more than the rest in the fellowship to the Lord. That's what the Lord requires. The Lord knows our frailty. He knows what we can, what we cannot. But for those who are in the responsibility, we have to give a little more than the average brothers and sisters in the fellowship. We have to be a little bit ahead of them. Now, this matter of time is really something very vital. It's really a testing ground of our sincerity, our commitment. You know, the qualification for those in responsibility, they have to be disciplined people, be above reproach, sincere. Now, if you always come to a meeting late, after the prayer time or the fellowship already has begun, you come in and you are a responsible brother. For instance, does that show that you are not sincere? There is a lack of commitment in you. Now, I have seen this in many places. The brothers and sisters, they were there, and after the first song, and then the responsible brother, and finally they walk in. It shows there is something lacking. There is lack of commitment. There is lack of sincerity. And because of that, we cannot be a good example for the brothers and sisters, and therefore the fellowship is weak. It's weak. So, this matter of time is very, very important, brothers and sisters. We must be willing to give our time to the Lord, to wait upon Him, to pray, to meditate upon His Word, to be instructed by Him, and make ourselves available to the brothers and sisters. So, time is a very important thing. Now, I heard once before, you are not going to have time, because there are limited legitimate requirements of this life. Especially, as for, if you have a house, there are many things you have to do around the house. You look, something needs to be done. You look there, something needs to be done. You just have no time. Not only that, your wife will require your time. Your children also will require your time. And your profession also will require your time. And you yourself also will require some time for yourself. And you have no time for anything. So, we have to learn to what? We have to learn to buy time. Redeem the time for the Lord. So, the first thing I believe is this matter of time. Now, the second thing is that we give ourselves to the Lord as individuals. I give myself to the Lord. But my wife, well, she can live her own life. My kids can do their own things. For instance, I believe there is a tremendous weakness in the church is because the family cannot come together to serve the Lord as a family unit. So, for the brother who is in responsibility, I think it is the only right thing. Your wife may not be totally in agreement with you in the way that you serve the Lord and the way you're giving your time to the Lord. But nevertheless, you must offer her up to the Lord. You must offer your children up to the Lord for the ministry that you can render to the church as a family unit. If the responsible truly loves his wife, I'm sure in his prayer he will offer his wife, he will offer his children to the Lord to serve as a unit. Because there is nothing more honorable than serving the king of kings and the Lord of lords. And the Lord wants us to serve him as a family unit. Now, we see that in the book of Genesis. You see, one of the... Satan is always trying to divide. God always unites, brings things together, he holds things together, you know, holding it. But Satan is always trying to disintegrate, to divide. So, when God brought Adam and Eve together, the first thing Satan took is trying to put a wedge between the husband and the wife. Adam blamed Eve for the fruit. A division between husband and wife. We should not allow that to happen. The Lord brought us together as one. We have to claim that for the Lord. Then the second thing is between the brothers. Immediately we see what happened in the book of Genesis. Cain and Abel, two brothers. And Satan is again trying to destroy that relationship. So, Satan is right here. Among us to destroy that relationship between husband and wife as well as between the brothers. And we have to be on God. So, I believe for those in response, we must learn to offer our wives and our children to the Lord so that we can serve him as a unit. Because family is the smallest unit of the testimony of the Lord Jesus. Then, the next thing, the third thing is that we have to learn, brothers and sisters, to use God's blessing upon us as a blessing for the church. You know, we are all offsprings of Abraham. And the Lord told Abraham that your offsprings will be a blessing, what? To the nations. So, when God gives Abraham a blessing, it's not just for Abraham to enjoy, so that he will bless others. So, for instance, for those who are in response, we must learn to bless others. You know, people go to church to be blessed. Isn't that true? And they often do. You know, oh, I was in such a place and I was blessed. Now, do you know why you are blessed when you go to church? Because there are those others who brought blessing to the church. We are to bring blessing to the church so that the church will become a place of blessing. So, we are all vessels of blessing. If there are more brothers and sisters who bring blessings to the church, those who come will be richly blessed. So, brothers and sisters, we have to learn to bring blessing to the church. We have to learn to bring blessing to our brothers and sisters. Now, elders in response to brothers, they are to be hospitable. You open your homes. Entertain brothers and sisters. If the church has no place to meet, you open your home for them to meet in your presence. If the church has no place to have prayer meeting, you open your home to have prayer meeting in your church. And that's how you read in the Book of Acts. Many churches began in homes. Began in homes. And when we meet in homes, there is really a home, really a family, homey atmosphere. You can sit close together. You can tell each other more intimately. When Boris Kong and I were in Florida in January, and we all aligned. And this brother, he was telling us his recent experience. They had a group of mostly Chinese brothers and sisters, and they met in home. And the fellowship was sweet and intimate. It was growing. And so, they decided, since we are growing, expanding, we need to have a place to meet. We need to have a place. And so, they bought an old church with pulpits and pews. And he told us, the first time that they moved into this so-called church with pews and platforms, he said, 70% of the life of the church flew out the window. Because the moment you sit into a pew, we became very, very passive. We became very passive. We sat there and waiting for someone to get up there and minister to us. There is no participation anymore. There is no active participation. Everybody just go there and sat. So, I think we had to maintain that close atmosphere, and home is always a good place to begin. Home is always a good place to begin. And I remember one thing about being in homes. We would suffer much inconvenience, you know, for the host. You have to set up the chairs. You have to give out the song books. You have to batten the floor. You may even have to remove some of your precious ornaments, store them somewhere, just in case some of these little ones, they will come around and you know what happens. And I remember when we first opened our home for the Bolling Sisters, I was, you know, in one sense it was a joy, but, you know, there were inconveniences. And you were fearful, you know. That piece of thing I brought from Taiwan, just in case one of those walls ran into it, what would happen to it? Those things happen. But, for instance, the Lord helped us overcome. The Lord helped us overcome. And I remember that one brother told me, he said, now you see that carpet, you just moved it in the store, and now you open your house for Bolling Sisters to meet. And they troop in and troop out. He said, I remember. Because you open your house for the Lord's people to use, and they use your carpet in and out, troop in every Sunday, in and out, especially winter sun or shiny sleep or, you know. He said, remember, remember, remember. He said, if you don't open your house for the Lord, you will have to stock with that carpet for the rest of your life. Now that carpet may not match your furniture, and you stock with it for the rest of your life. You look at it every day. But he said, if you use your house for the Lord, and you troop and troop, the Lord will give you grace. Maybe you will change your carpet once in every five years. Now that is something very, very encouraging. That is something very encouraging. Bolling Sisters, it is true. He always gives us more than what we offer to Him. Much, much more. Much, much more. So we need to make ourselves available. Not just individually, our family, and all that is in our family. Because all that we have, they are His. So we should not hold anything back for the Lord and for His purpose. Now let's move on to the next thing. First, we talk about this availability and heart of a servant. And the second thing is this acceptability. We do things not for doing things' sake. We are doing things so that it will be acceptable in His sight. In other words, we do things to please Him. Now that is the heart of a true son. It is always to please the Father. That should be the thing that we need to cultivate. We serve as a servant, or we serve as a what? As a son. So Christ, as a son, He was faithful in His house. Now, brothers and sisters, you know the Lord Jesus when He was on earth, He did everything to please the Father. His aim was His delight. The Father's delight. And so when He was 12 years old, He declared, when He went to the temple at the age of 12, and on their way home, the parents could not find Him. They looked around, they went back to the temple, and they found Him there. And they said, Now, Son, what are you doing to us? Now you know the answer. They said, Do you not know I should be a godwife? My father's business. A wife in my father's name. And brothers and sisters, since we are sons, our main business is to be about His business, is to be in His house. Not our personal business, not my house, but His house. Now, there is always a temptation, for those in leadership, is to run things as though the church is something yours, personal thing. There is always that danger. There is always that danger. I am very much aware of that. And I try to take precaution so that there will be no misunderstanding, even though I don't have that intention in my heart. But I do what I can so that the others, brothers and sisters, and the people in our surroundings, they will not have the notion that that is so-and-so's church, so-and-so's meeting. But you cannot help it. Because in our fellowship, people say, Oh, that is the Wu's church. They do that. But I keep telling brothers and sisters, It's not my church, it's not my meeting, it's the Lord's. It's just the Lord's. And so, by the Lord's grace, he took me away from the fellowship, almost once a year away, so the local brethren can assume responsibility and can exercise their gift and can function. So I think, for those who are in leadership, we have to give room for the others to come into the place of leadership or that we can serve the Lord together as a whole. Not just with you, but everybody. Now, the next thing is that serving the Lord, doing things pleasing to him, to the Lord, we have to tune our ears to the Lord. Because when you begin to do things in a fellowship, you will receive many suggestions from the brothers and sisters. They will come and say, I think this will be a better way. And another person will say, I think this will be a better way. And there will be many, many suggestions. And you yourself sometimes think, oh, maybe this will be a better way. But brothers and sisters, we need to tune our ears to the Lord. We need to learn to receive our direction from the Lord himself. And therefore, we have to learn the lesson, the hard lesson, to say no to ourselves and always say no to the leading of the Holy Spirit. There's one thing I learned in Hong Kong when we were there in 1983. And our brothers and sisters would say, no one can give us direction. No one. Only the Holy Spirit, through God's Word, we can find direction. Brothers and sisters, they can only give us confirmation, but never direction. And I think that is one of the most important for those in leadership. We must always get our direction from the Lord, from the Holy Spirit, by waiting before, and not listen to suggestions or own personal will. No one can give us direction. But brothers and sisters, they can give us confirmation, but not direction. Now, another temptation is that we often want to do things, you know, to please people. With their approval. You know, after you do something, you say, now, is it all right? Is it okay? You want to consult them. And it's all right. But we must not seek their approval. We must do all things to seek God's approval. Because God's way is often contrary to man's way. And for those who are in leadership, if we are hard determined to please the Lord, we will suffer oftentimes misunderstanding and even rejection. That is the price we have to consider. If you are not willing to be rejected and oftentimes misunderstood by your brothers and sisters, you are not qualified to become a leader. It's hard. Because we all want people to say, you know, you're doing okay. You're doing fine. But we cannot please man. We can only please God. So, brothers and sisters, we must learn to say no to ourselves. We must say no to many suggestions. We must only learn to get direction from the head. If the head psychology is to be established and operated, we must get an opportunity. To show us His ways and His directions. And that will take time. That will take time. Now, throughout this week, we heard again and again, the Lord is not looking for successes. He's just looking for what's in our hearts. He sees the heart. So, brothers and sisters, faithfulness is what He's looking for. Faithfulness, which is true to the Lord, is what He's looking for. And so, don't be too ambitious. You know, sometimes we are very ambitious. But don't over, don't be ambitious. Just be faithful. Whatever the measure of grace has given to you, be faithful. And I like what Lance said, just be yourself. The Lord knows your capacity. Don't over demand yourself. Don't do what you cannot do. Be faithful with a little and the Lord will increase His trust in you. Now, as we grow in the Lord, servants and sons, and then, of course, there is that friendship, there is that close relationship. We are not only servants. We are not just sons, but we are friends. John 15, the Lord said, I don't call you slaves anymore, I call you friends. Because what I heard, what I learned from the Father, now I make it known to you. So, as we grow into maturity, there is that intimate fellowship as a friend. And the Lord takes us into His company. He shares the deep thing of His heart with those who walk intimately with Him. So, what I said, we need to learn to walk intimately with the Lord so that He can share whatever is in His heart with us. Now, the next thing is this matter of adjustability. Whether we are sons or servants, we need to learn to adjust. You know, we are people of habits. After we have done this thing for so many years and we get so used to it, and it's hard for us to shift gears. But our head is 11 years. He is bigger, much bigger than what we know He is. He is much bigger. And He always has something more. You know, the problem with those in leadership is that once we think we are doing okay, we are so easily satisfied. And the Lord always brings us to a certain level in order to prepare to bring us to a higher level. So, there is no such thing as we have arrived. You know, we know what to do now. There is no such thing. So, we must always give room for the Lord to do more, to show us more of Himself. So, this matter of adjustability is absolutely important. I discovered one thing. As we grow older, we get more fit in our ways. You know, we think we have the experience. We think we have a long history with the Lord. We know more than some of the younger brothers and sisters. And they should just listen to us. Do what we tell them to do. Brothers and sisters, it's not they and us as we heard the other day. We are together in this thing. So, there should be adjustment between the older saints as well as the younger saints. Learn one from the other as we follow the Lord together. And so, as God has taught us, the sign of adjustability is always a sign of maturity. You know, when you are mature, you are always set in your way. A youngster, when he wants a candy, he wants a candy. You cannot substitute candy with a food. You say, that's what I want. As we grow in the Lord, we learn to make adjustments to the Lord himself and to one another. And above all to the Lord. Because he is so much bigger. He is so full, so vast. We are so small. And he wants to bring us to perfection and to fullness. Therefore, we have to do all the adjustments. We have to do all the adjustments. So, according to this, we have to be adjusted. Not to be set in our ways. That is a danger. Once we are set in our way, we get into a rut. And it's very difficult for us, for the Holy Spirit to shake us out of that fixed position. You know, there are those who are so sure. And I think there is a danger in that. We know and yet we don't know. We are sure and yet we are not always sure. That's the way how we are being adjusted. So, we need to learn to do that. It's very difficult, you know. I mean, in this world, you are sure, you are sure, you know. But in our walk with the Lord, yes, we are sure and yes, at the same time, we are not. We know and yet we don't know. And even sometimes I think we consider that we know and for sure and it turns out to be not quite right. And that's how the Lord is teaching us, adjusting us. So, we need to be for sure. Now, finally, brothers and sisters, the Lord, in John 13, at the Last Supper, He arose from the supper and He laid aside His garments. Now, brothers and sisters, food and clothing are the two most essential things of this life. Whether you are a medical doctor with big income, a school teacher with medium income, or with a secretary with little income. Now, people say, now, what do you do? You say, oh, I'm just making a living. Everybody is making a living. Food on the table, clothing where? On your back. Now, that is legitimate. That is the right thing to do as human beings. That is what a responsible human being ought to do. Work so that you have food on the table, clothing for yourself and also food for your family, clothing for your family. Now, the question is for the church. Who is to live in the church? You know, the Lord didn't finish His supper, apparently, because He arose from the supper, and He didn't finish His food on the table. He didn't finish it. The food was still there, because later on He again put on the other garment and He reclined on the table again. So, brothers and sisters, many times when we serve the Lord, we have to leave the thing that is legitimate, even to our own very life. Can we really trust the Lord? Now, eating food is really the test. Take care of our own livelihood. Now, sometimes we are more concerned about our own livelihood than the test. You know, there are some people, they have to work on Sunday to make the extra money for their family. And I remember there was one story about a barber in England, and he always opened his barber shop on Sunday, because on Sunday is the best day, because everybody is off, and so you can get your hair cut. So, Sunday is his Tuesday. But after his conversion, the Holy Spirit seems to be doing something with him. Sunday, I should be with God's people. Worshipping in the house of God. And so he said, Now, if I don't work, and he was calculating, I'll be short of this much money. And he was very, very, very, he was struggling. Should I close my shop on Sunday or should I continue opening on Sunday? If I open on Sunday, I couldn't meet with the Lord's people. And there's something inside prompting him that he should go ahead and shut the door. And he did. And the Lord said, When he closed his shop on Sunday, he said he couldn't handle the rest of the sick days. People would just keep coming in. So therefore, you see, we all are thinking about what we should eat, what we should cook, and that's what the Gentiles do. And the Lord said, If you seek my kingdom, and my righteousness, all these things will be added to you. You see, the Lord's house must come first, before God's own dwelling. When we honour him, he will honour us. Serve our brothers and sisters, so we must learn to lay aside, rise up from the supper, if necessary, to serve our brothers and sisters. Now, in this country of fluent, we rarely go hungry. But I know in other countries, those who serve the Lord, they go hungry. They go without a meal just to be with those people. So I think there's something more to it. Now, the next thing is lay aside his garment. Of course, that's people. He lay aside his glory, he put on the flesh, became so. And God says, That is what we ought to do too. Now, we are living in a so-called classless society. We are all equal. All men are created equal. But most people don't think so. If you are a certain class of executive, you think you are different from the average worker. I mean, we are conscious of that. And that is a temptation. That's a temptation. Because of my station in life, you know, and for me, to go and visit this one soul, is below my right, my dignity, below my social standing. The Lord must get rid of all those things. Must redo us to a servant, to a true slave, then we can serve others. So we should never consider our social station, my educational background, my income, my associates. We must get rid of those things. Lay them aside. Lay them aside. As long as we hold to those things, our social standing, we can never serve the Lord freely. We can never serve the Lord freely. We must lay all those down. Now there is also the problem of ethnic problems too. That we also have, before we had some Chinese brothers and sisters here. There is a tendency for the Chinese brothers and sisters just to be by themselves. I can see this recently, because of the language problem. The brothers and sisters, we are God's people. We are to serve all God's people. Not any particular ethnic group or racial group. Because they are our brothers and sisters. And we are His people. Now I know it is difficult for some of the Chinese brothers and sisters to overcome. Because they want to maintain that racial identity. And when they preach the Gospel, they want to preach to the Chinese. And I think we ought to overcome that. We are His people. The Bible says, there is no division, there is no distinction. We are His people. So probably we must learn to lay aside our government, whether our social standing, our racial, whatever. Let them decide. Then we can begin to serve. Otherwise, how can we serve all? It is slightly to serve all. Now that all is very inclusive. You cannot be selective about it. So we have to learn to serve all. Not a selective group of people that we like to serve. You know, who we choose to serve. No. Our Master is the one who decides who we serve. And He wants us to serve all. And then the next thing is to take up this power. Lay aside and put something else. And this power is to wash the other's feet and to wipe them. Now, brothers and sisters, in our everyday experience, if you wash without wiping your feet or hands dry, you just feel uncomfortable. In fact, you feel awful. Washing is half of the ministry. We need the wiping to complete it. So many brothers and sisters, they want to wash. The brothers and sisters, we don't need to wipe dry. So there's no residue there. Everything is quite clean. So you finally feel like you are truly being washed. That's how we should be, fresh brothers and sisters. Not just love, but we do. Now, many brothers and sisters, they have a desire to serve the Lord and love the Lord. They always say, if the spirit is willing and the flesh is willing, it's always good. Now I simplify. And I think God and me put it in a very beautiful way. You can never love the Lord without your willingness to deny yourself. Many of us, we want to love the Lord but we don't want to what? Deny ourselves. We don't want to get up from the supper. We don't want to lay aside our garments. We don't want to what? We want to wash people's feet, but we don't want to hurt ourselves. So God answers, for those who are in responsibility, we need to learn. We need to learn to lay down, to wipe, to wash, to wipe, and to love the Lord in the event that we must be prepared to deny ourselves. We cannot love without denying. So, it's voluntary, it's sacrificial, and it's all on love. And then, it will be a sweet aroma to the Lord. Now, brothers and sisters, the fellowship we have in Glasgow is very, very young. Very few. Very few. But I'm very thankful there are hearts that are eager to serve the Lord. Now, I'm not saying we know how, but we all learn. But we all learn. And I think as long as we live, we are learning. As long as we live, we have that desire to serve the Lord. And yet, somehow, we keep crying and saying, I'm not able. I'm not able. And you know, it is so good. It's when I say, I cannot, then the Lord says, You cannot. Now, brothers and sisters, let me just share this with you. In the house of the Lord, there is no spectators sitting in the back seat. We are all participants. Everyone in the family should be an active participant in the service. Everyone is important. I remember one brother in the Philippines. He said, I'm not very gifted. I cannot sing. That's what our brother said. He sang very well. He said, I cannot sing. I cannot preach. I cannot do anything. But he said, You know, I'm just like a little toe, small toe in the body. It is so useless. You know, a little small toe in the body. He said, I'm just like that. But he said, I cannot do anything. But without me, you are one. So just being there is also very important. You see, often time we think, oh, they can do without me. What can I do? There is nothing I can contribute. That's a wrong attitude. For instance, in the body of Christ, you are very, very important. Without you, we are incomplete. And they said, give chance. All the time, in our prayer meeting Tuesday evening, if so and so is not there, we feel there is something missing. There is just something missing. And when that person comes back, we say, oh, what a rejoicing. And now he is with us. An added strength, an added encouragement, that we can pray together. So, brothers and sisters, you all are very important. You may not have a special ministry, but you have a ministry. You may not have a very important place, but you also have a place. You may not be important to the brothers and sisters, but very important to the testament of the Lord Jesus, to the ancient world. Because that little toe, even though it is useless, makes the body work. So, brothers and sisters, I would encourage you, do not refrain from the assembly of the saints. Your presence is vital. So may the Lord help us. So, to train to administer the church is simply make ourselves available to the Lord. And make ourselves available to the brothers and sisters. It is to seek to do things acceptable in His sight. Always to please Him. Not to please man. And then to be adjustable. Because none of us are comfortable. And the transformation process is going on all the time. We are being changed from glory to glory. So, brothers and sisters, I just share those three things. Make ourselves available to the Lord. It is causal. Seek to do things acceptable in His sight. And then to be adjustable. You know, and to be adjustable, we have to lay aside many of our own things. We have to. We have to. It's hard. But it's worth it. And I always think about the narrow gate. You know, people use the narrow gate as our initial salvation. And I think it could be applied even in our everyday Christian life. If we want to walk with the Lord into the narrow gate, we have to leave many of our baggages. We cannot take them in. Things from the world we have to leave out. Things from the religious world we also have to leave out. In a sense, what gets through will be Christ Himself. Because only Christ can enter the narrow gate. And only Christ can walk in that straight path. We always look for the broad one. The wide gate. Christ came. And that's where the soul is. So may the Lord help us. Make us willing. Just make us willing. And He is looking for willing hearts. He is looking for good deeds. So may the Lord help all of us. So shall we just bow our heads. Our Father, we thank You for the privilege to be called as Your servant. We thank You for honoring us to be called the sons of the living God. We thank You that You call us out of this world to serve You. Lord, in the sense we know how to give You our heart. We know we cannot. We know we are not called. But You have called us to Yourself. And not only that, You have deposited Your very life in us. Lord, so that we can serve You with Your life. We pray that You will give us faith. Lord, to trust You. Believing in what You want us to do. You also give us the grace. And Lord, we just pray that we be those who are willing to make ourselves available to You. To commit ourselves to You. Not just ourselves individually. Those who are serving You. But our wives, our family. Lord, we may serve You as a unit. We pray that You use all the blessings You show upon us to bless others. Lord, make us those who are truly committed to Your purpose and to Your testament. We pray that the Holy Spirit give us that desire to do things that are pleasing in Your sight. Lord, not our own will, but Your will. Seek to know Your mind, Your way, Your direction for Your people. And Lord, above all we do pray as we follow You that You will help us. Lord, to learn to adjust to Your perfect will, to Your direction. Lord, we know there is so much You want to teach us. Your way is above our way. We just pray that You will keep us in that humble place. Lord, willing to be taught. Willing to be adjusted. Flexible in Your hand. For You to mold, to form Christ into us. Lord, that we may be a blessing to others. Lord, again we cry to You. Lord, without You we can do nothing. But we thank You. When we say we cannot, You assure us that we can. Lord, that is our only hope. So we just commit one another into Your loving hands. Lord, do Your work in each assembly. Lord, raise up those who are in responsibility. Lord, give them wisdom. Give them direction. How to lead Your people. Lord, we know You are doing the work in these last days. In many places, throughout this land. We just pray that wherever You want people to find, we pray that the headship and authority of the Lord Jesus will be established. And that Your name will be glorified. We give You all the praise. All the thanks. Amen.