2. Practicing the Truth and the Duties One Should Do

Most people now are basically clear regarding the question of what after all we should obtain from our faith in God, namely we obtain from God the truth, the way, and the life. On the two occasions that He was God incarnate, God said that He is the truth, the way, and the life. This also explains that God’s intention and the aim of God’s work is to confer upon man the truth, the way, and the life. Regardless of the manner in which God conducts His work, men are able to obtain from God the truth, the way, and the life. What is the relationship between the truth, the way, and the life? We may put it this way, the truth is the life, and it is the path that man ought to follow. Once he obtains the truth, he also has life, and he has a path for his life. Once he obtains the truth, all is resolved. These three things are in fact one thing that is explained from three aspects, God is the truth and He is also the life and the way. These three aspects are three major aspects that ought to be resolved through man’s belief in God. Once these three questions are resolved, the important questions in the life of man are resolved. We obtain life once we have the truth, and the truth itself is also the way. When we have the life, our lives are resolved, and when we have life, the fundamental questions of man are resolved. This is precisely the entire work of God’s salvation of man, and it is a simple and generalized way of explaining it.

1 How to Pursue to Be an Honest Person

Miaoxiao Anyang City, Henan Province

In the past, when reading in God’s word that we were required to be an honest person, many brothers and sisters thought that it was not hard to be an honest person and that as long as one told the truth without cheating others in everything, he was an honest person. Most people did not meditate or seek whether they had lived up to the standards of an honest person, and even less did they pay attention to entering into being an honest person. Thus, the matter of practicing being an honest person was shelved. Recently, through the man’s fellowship “The Four Indices People Have to Grasp in Pursuing the Truth to Gain the Transformation of Their Disposition,” we have clearly realized the importance and crucialness of being an honest person, knowing that being an honest person is the prerequisite and the foundation for the transformation of our disposition and is the start of pursuing the transformation of our disposition. Because God likes honest people and loathes crafty people, only if we begin by practicing and entering into being an honest person will we be able to establish a normal relationship with God, and will we easily communicate with God and receive the working of the Holy Spirit. If we have no entering in in being an honest person, we cannot have transformation of our disposition, even less can we be saved and perfected by God.

Sermons and Fellowship About God’s Word “Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life”

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Let’s first read a passage of God’s words, “Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life.”

Not just anyone can possess the way of life, nor can every single person easily obtain it. That is because life can only come from God, which is to say, only God Himself possesses the substance of life, and only God Himself has the way of life.

1. What Is the Work of Managing Mankind?

Relevant Words of God:

The work of managing mankind is divided into three stages, which means that the work of saving mankind is divided into three stages. These three stages do not include the work of creating the world, but are rather the three stages of the work of the Age of Law, the Age of Grace, and the Age of Kingdom. The work of creating the world was the work of producing the whole of mankind. It was not the work of saving mankind, and bears no relation to the work of saving mankind, for when the world was created mankind had not been corrupted by Satan, and so there was no need to carry out the work of mankind’s salvation. The work of saving mankind only began when mankind had been corrupted by Satan, and so the work of managing mankind also only began when mankind had been corrupted. In other words, God’s management of man began as a result of the work of saving mankind, and did not arise from the work of creating the world. It was only after mankind acquired a corrupt disposition that the work of management came into existence, and so the work of managing mankind includes three parts, rather than four stages, or four ages. Only this is the correct way to refer to God’s management of mankind. When the final age comes to a close, the work of managing mankind will have come to a complete end. The conclusion of the work of management means that the work of saving all mankind has been completely finished, and that mankind has reached his journey’s end. Without the work of saving all mankind, the work of managing mankind would not exist, nor would there be the three stages of work. It was precisely because of mankind’s depravity, and because mankind was in such urgent need of salvation, that Jehovah concluded the creation of the world and began the work of the Age of Law. Only then did the work of managing mankind begin, which means that only then did the work of saving mankind begin. “Managing mankind” does not mean guiding the life of mankind, newly created, on earth (which is to say, a mankind that had yet to be corrupted). Rather, it is the salvation of a mankind that has been corrupted by Satan, which is to say, it is to transform this corrupt mankind. This is the meaning of managing mankind. The work of saving mankind does not include the work of creating the world, and so the work of managing mankind does not include the work of creating the world, and only includes three stages of work that are separate from the world’s creation. To understand the work of managing mankind, it is necessary to be aware of the history of the three stages of work—this is what everyone must be aware of in order to be saved.

from “Knowing the Three Stages of God’s Work Is the Path to Knowing God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

2. Why Is God Called by Different Names in Different Ages?

Relevant Words of God:

In every age in which God personally does His own work, He uses a name that befits the age in order to encapsulate the work that He intends to do. He uses this particular name, one that possesses temporal significance, to represent His disposition in that age. This is God using the language of mankind to express His own disposition.

from “The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

1. Why Does God Take Names, and Can One Name Represent the Entirety of God?

Relevant Words of God:

You should know that God originally had no name. He only took on one, or two, or many names because He had work to do and had to manage mankind. Whatever name He is called by—did He not freely choose it Himself? Would He need you—one of His creatures—to decide it? The name by which God is called is a name that accords with what man is capable of apprehending, with the language of mankind, but this name is not something that man can encompass.

from “The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

2. Almighty God Is the Returned Lord Jesus

Relevant Words of God:

After the work of Jehovah, Jesus became flesh to do His work amongst man. His work was not carried out in isolation, but built upon the work of Jehovah. It was work for a new age after God had concluded the Age of Law. Similarly, after the work of Jesus ended, God still continued His work for the next age, because the entire management of God is always progressing forward. When the old age passes, it will be replaced by a new age, and once the old work has been completed, a new work will continue the management of God. This incarnation is God’s second incarnation following the completion of Jesus’ work. Of course, this incarnation does not occur independently, but is the third stage of work after the Age of Law and the Age of Grace. Each new stage of God’s work always brings a new beginning and a new age. So too are there corresponding changes in the disposition of God, in His way of working, in the location of His work, and in His name. No wonder, then, that it is difficult for man to accept the work of God in the new age. But regardless of how He is opposed by man, God is always doing His work, and is always leading the whole of mankind forward. When Jesus came into the world of man, He brought the Age of Grace and ended the Age of Law. During the last days, God once more became flesh, and when He became flesh this time, He ended the Age of Grace and brought the Age of Kingdom. All those who accept the second incarnation of God will be led into the Age of Kingdom, and be able to personally accept the guidance of God. Though Jesus did much work among man, He only completed the redemption of all mankind and became man’s sin offering, and did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to take on the sins of man as the sin offering, but also required God to do greater work to completely rid man of his disposition, which has been corrupted by Satan. And so, after man was forgiven his sins, God has returned to flesh to lead man into the new age, and begun the work of chastisement and judgment, and this work has brought man into a higher realm. All those who submit under His dominion shall enjoy higher truth and receive greater blessings. They shall truly live in the light, and shall gain the truth, the way, and the life.

from Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh