The Church: Recovery & Testimony - History of the Church in China - Part 2 — Stephen Kaung

The Recovery of Gospel Fellowship and the Vision of the Church

So in the beginning, they have four brothers and sisters with their love for the Lord, and they broke the bread and they eat it together and they had this meeting. And when they were there following the Lord, and their emphasis is still preaching the gospel.

They utilize the vacation they had and go to the countryside, but gradually, the Lord enlightened his heart and he knows, to have this church, and he says the gospel should not be divided and to the end of the meeting, they are accepted but those are do not be accepted.

So he just retreated. In the year of 1926, there are a few brothers and sisters have the same vision and there are a few sisters, unfortunately I don't have much time and these sisters are specially prepared by the Lord.

They meet with one human being and several others and they start to meet in the house of those sisters place in the daytime, this is the place where they eat and sleep in the night. When the meeting time comes, they just put everything aside and start to meet in the same very place.

They only have one wish. Do you want to return to the origin of the church? They do not wish to have any organization they want to be unified with the sisters in the Lord. And in the beginning, he just mentioned about the cross and the subjective experience and then he came to the central purpose of the cross.

The Cross as the Center of the Gospel Testimony

Come to the year of 1934, he started to say the cross is the center so just echoed in many other places in China and it is the God who gives the same vision to the people and this was discovered later on when they met together they found out that the God's spirit moved within them are the same spirit.

So even though within the coastline there was a meeting together even come all the way to the Manchuria but there is no organization at all and the spirit of the Lord started to work at that time, the brothers and sisters truly loved one another.

They paid a great price to have this restoration of the gospel testimony. And during the war with Japan many migrated to the inland China and the testimony of the Lord was brought back in the inland and when the final victory was won everywhere in China, there was a restoration of the gospel and in those years, there was no human organization.

There were many workers but among the workers, there is only spiritual relationship, there is no organization. Many among them, they hungered to death because they think they need to depend on the Lord, rely on Him.

They never mentioned about their own needs. And we have one brother, he starved and there are many who just drink water only for many days but they have been testimony to the Lord in one accord in those twenty years we can say that the brothers and sisters truly loved one another and even among the workers, they laid down their lives so we really see the blessing of the Lord.

Unity, Sacrifice, and the Restoration of Testimony

There is no difference among gospel people, no division even though there are small difficulties there are people depart but overall speaking, all of them just in one unity to serve the Lord. I need to be honest to brothers and sisters so those who blessed by the Lord I am going to mention but those who failed, I am also going to mention in the 1940s in the late 1940s on one hand we see the recovery work of the Lord among our ministers because during the war, we all scattered around the places forgive me to use we.

I am not saying that we, you and him because all the children of God are. I am referring to the work of God because during the war with Japan there is difficulty to communicate at work. There are people in the occupied area some are in the place with freedom so the fellowship was very rare after the war had come to an end and all the brothers and sisters had the opportunity to be together at one time at that time, the Lord gave us a great revival.

The Revival and the Rise of Organization

It can be said that everything is shared. No one says that this thing is his own. There is such a phenomenon but at the same time at the same time there is an organization among us although we don't admit that we have an organization but in fact there is an organization but in reality, the organization has begun and in the work, this organization within the church, there is an organization as well as I look back this is the beginning of the falling away and thanks God because of the political turmoil and God trials and refines us.

There is one thing we cannot deny because God gives us a lot of grace and light without realizing it, we are proud we look down upon the brothers and sisters in the congress and because of this reason, we have fallen so in the film, we have suffered a lot.

We have suffered a lot. We thank God he showed us we cannot be proud we are not better than others. We need to love all the brothers. We need to learn from brothers and sisters just like others learn from others and thanks God God uses this political change and he changed what we anticipated for many years and he changed what we anticipated for many years and our anticipation is that all the believers in China will be not according to the division but in one unity but we failed but according to the political change that has been made there is no denomination in that period of time just a Christian.

If you are a Christian, you are brothers and sisters love each other and love one another, care for one another. This is what we need to thank God for and for this reason because of the testimony of the Christians in China and God was widespread many people came to receive the knowledge and this is the condition in China.

The Gospel Testimony Beyond China

And how about what's happening abroad, overseas we have a little bit of work outside China. In Philippines, Malaysia, there is some work there and in Hong Kong as well. We started working in Hong Kong in 1937 at that time, several of us went to Guangzhou to work.

We went there to work as waiters. When we worked there there was an elderly lady who came from Hong Kong to visit us. This elderly lady was already in her 60s. She was an old church member old church member.

She was a church member that year, she went to Tianjin. She went to Tianjin and we started working in Tianjin so she went to listen to the old lady and when she came back to Hong Kong she asked if there was a gathering like this in Hong Kong they told her that Hong Kong has brothers in Guangzhou so as soon as she arrived in Hong Kong, the next day she came to Guangzhou we had some communication in China she went back to Hong Kong after a short period of time we had two co-workers who came from Guangzhou to Hong Kong and this two co-workers started working in Hong Kong.

So the work in Hong Kong started in 1937 because of the political transition many of God's children came out of China and went to Hong Kong, Nanyang, Taiwan.

Under God's mercy.

We also saw God start working so whether it was in Taiwan, the Philippines, Singapore whether it was in Indonesia, Thailand wherever it was we started to see God's children who wanted to be the witnesses of the church.

Division and the Loss of the Unity Testimony

But it was very unfortunate. They also started to organize. Unfortunately in the 60s among us there was a division. This division is widespread not only in Taiwan but in Singapore, in Hong Kong, in the Philippines.

The Lord raised us for the testimony of the unity of His church. But the most serious among us is the division. The enemy is unwilling to accept which aspect of the Lord uses women. The enemy has to work on that aspect.

But we can't blame the devil. But we can't blame Satan for everything within us. There is something false among us, not just for the doctrine but because of the personality. We have a division. And division comes to the point that what has been done is over and beyond what the people in the world did.

In 1970 when I passed by Hong Kong that was much a shame thanks God in this condition. From that point on until now because of the division among us we can't stand the doctrine of the church we dare not speak.

We don't deserve to speak. Therefore later on our brothers and sisters have no idea what we are doing here. They think we are just another denomination another sect. For this reason they think this way is stuck.

They go to a broad way. In those years the original testimony was a spot almost to the point of non-existence. But praise and thank God there is a remnant of the brothers and sisters. And in our heart there is a burden.

Repentance Under the Lord's Rebuke

We do not accept the condition. We sense the cold of the Lord. He called us for repentance. He is just like the Lord of Laodicea. He said nothing in the door. He wants us to open our door. Many people think that the Lord speaks to Philadelphia church.

You will hold fast what you had so that no one takes the crown away from you today. Dear brothers and sisters today is among all God's people there are Laodicea's condition. There are condition of the Philadelphia.

Maybe you already fall into Laodicea. You need to repent. And those people they press on persevere. And that the word of the Lord says that you need to hold on hold fast. Well so that no one takes the crown away from you.

Returning to the Heavenly Vision

And brothers and sisters I believe that the Lord did not give it up. If the Lord did not give up how can we give up. And I believe that the spirit of the Lord especially in those years continues to work.

We trust that many brothers in their heart there is something that cannot be uttered. The same feeling. We know that today our condition is not right. How we like to return to the condition of the first.

If the Lord have mercy and He can restore. Yes we need to pay the price. We need to lay down ourselves. We need to get rid of the tradition. We need to humble before the Lord. We need to look to the Lord to renew that heavenly vision in our heart.

Or we will see what we never seen before. It is because the Lord called us. It is not without a special reason. We have a mission. We hope, we wish we can say like a fool I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.

Transparency Before God and Prayer for Recovery

That is our heaven. And praise our Lord, our God before you. We are naked. We are transparent. And we would like to be transparent before our brethren. Oh Lord you are utter. You are you prevail in your heart which cannot be utter.

And we pray that you are here before you are coming back. And Lord we pray that you recover your weight and your testimony. And Lord care for your own testimony. Oh Lord just not care so much of how we feel.

Oh keep our heart in the name of Jesus.