Home of Grace

2010 Christmas SharingWith Gratitude to God（II）
( I ) Establishment of Home of Grace for Christ’s Workers in North America:…When we first arrived in New Orleans, we had only three persons. However, we persisted in this ministry everyday. Brother Zhang led the study of two chapters from the Bible by comparative method. I was responsible for the study of Psalms and the book of Revelation by the same method. Old sister Zhang was the only audience. Gradually few believers at New Orleans started to attend our Bible Study. And some co-workers came out from China to join us. …Later we decided to apply for ratification of Home of Grace as a non-profit gospel organization. There were so many forms. I really had no idea how to fill them out. But God put a burden in the heart of Pastor Lao, Hon Ben. He was a pastor of New Orleans Chinese Baptist Church. How he worked day and night to fill out all of the forms for us. He even filed the application for us. …Praise the Lord with all our hearts. In 1995, Home of Grace for Christ’s Workers in North America was ratified by American government as a non-profit gospel organization. …It was just like that. There was no money in any bank or a board of committee to support us. Since we only knew of one pastor and two brothers in America, they naturally composed our nominal Board of Committee. To answer questions in the application form, brother Zhang became a nominal Principal of Home of Grace. Old sister Zhang became a nominal vice-Principal. I had no choice but to be a Treasurer. The Holy Bible was our only text book. Hardship was our qualification as the staff. Truly it is not by might, not by power. But it is by the Spirit of God that things can be done. By the power and help of our Almighty God, we were ratified by the government very soon. This is how Home of Grace for Christ’s Workers in North America was established. Thanks be to God! (II) Enlarge the Place of Your Tent. Do Not Hold Back:…The burden that God gave to His servant John Song was to set up 48 homes all over the world for Christ’s workers. The goal of it is to gather God’s servants and let them be trained by God’s words. How important it is for God’s servants to understand God’s will before they set out to do His ministry. These homes are also to be served as departure ports for gospel preaching. Workers need to be clear about the guidance of the Holy Spirit before they start off their ministry. This vision is based on scriptures about 48 towns for the Levites in the Old Testament. Among them are 6 cities of refuge which are for whoever kills others unintentionally. 42 towns for the Levites, God’s servants, join together constantly in prayers, and then be sent out by the Holy Spirit for gospel preaching. In this active manner, groups after groups of God’s servants will be sent out to carry out the Great Commission in time, so that we can get the Church ready for the second coming of our Lord. The city of refuge is also like the Arabia desert for Paul. He was kept in that secluded desert so as to eat God’s words. God revealed Jesus Christ in his heart. The towns for the Levites are like Antioch for Paul. When Paul and his co-workers served the Lord together over there, he and Barnabas were sent out by the Holy Spirit to do God’s work. Antioch had become an international out-reach center for Paul’s ministry. It had also served as a retreat center for Paul to regain his strength before the Lord….When God’s servant John Song retreated to a mountain for his illness, he continued to pray and waited on the Lord. Finally, he understood in the Spirit what kind of qualities that God desired from His servants. Though many of us in Home of Grace have never met God’s servant John Song in person, we have been moved by the same Holy Spirit. We have come to understand that the life of a worker is more important than the performance of a worker. We must be careful in doing God’s work: “See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”(Exodus 25: 40) Be careful not to serve God according to men’s viewpoint….Though three places of our ministry in China were forced to stop by Chinese government in 1960s, the Holy Spirit has never stopped moving more people to pray for her restoration. Thank God that right now Home of Grace in these three places is working again though we are forced to go underground….Since the establishment of Home of Grace in New Orleans in 1995, we had been busy with daily needs of this ministry. Though we continued to pray for the development of 48 towns of the Levites day and night, we had no faith to expand it at all. How could we complete God’s work if we kept on postponing it? When we first got this vision we were so young, most of us were in our 20s. But now most of us were in 70s. We were losing strength everyday….In 2000 I got the certificate of American citizenship. When the officer gave me that certificate, he said, “Now you can go to all nations of the world.” In fact, I felt I was dying. I always felt dizzy. My eye-sight became weaker. My stomach was always uncomfortable. Often I wondered whether my Heavenly Father was going to call me home. Finally, I said a prayer beside my bed, “O Lord, I have nothing to worry about on earth. I desire nothing of this world. But my entrustment is in Warsaw Poland. I shouted aloud in a vision about great revival in Africa. How can I honor your name if I go back home in heaven now? Many people know that I have burdens for all those places.” How amazing it is. Since that prayer, all of my illness disappeared! By the guidance of the Holy Spirit I was able to carry on little service for my gracious Lord. In His mercy, the Lord had brought me to Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Indonesia. Later on some sisters had burden to go with me to Japan, South Korea, Britain, New Zealand, Sydney of Australia, Canada, Russia, West Africa, South Africa and East Africa. I also went back to China and other places in America. God gave me grace to meet bodies in the Lord. We prayed and read Bible together. We encouraged one another. …In 2002 when I paid another visit to Hong Kong, I was sick with Shingles. It was so painful that I could hardly endure it. The red spots on the skin were gone soon. But the infection of my nerve endings under the rib has continuously given me unbearable pain. For the past eight years, this pain has never left me. Once when sister Zhang prayed in the Prayer Room, she also prayed for me. At first she was so sad that she asked the Lord if this was the time that He wanted to take me home. Then unexpectedly she was filled with joy by the Holy Spirit. She realized that I was not going to die. On the opposite, God was going to give me a big present—Warsaw Poland. …Praise the Lord! He used afflictions internally and externally to refine us, so that we were more in unity and more watchful in prayer. As a result of it, we determined to march forward with full strength to expand Home of Grace in London, West Europe and Home of Grace in Warsaw, East Europe. Now with one heart we focused on the expansion of Home of Grace outside China. We are to obey God’s command to go to the whole world and preach gospel to all nations….(III) From London to Warsaw:…Since 2004 sister Zhang and I had started to go to London for this ministry in spite of my illness. Once I had a chance to attend a convention in Brighton. There I met pastor KB from Warsaw Poland. When he heard that I had prayed for Poland over 50 years, he told me through a translator that he was willing to receive me whenever I went to Poland. With that offer I returned to America and bought two tickets at once. I flew to Warsaw with a sister. We planned to stay there for 20 days. Pastor KB really came to pick us up at the airport. God blessed our trip. We bought a small apartment. Thank God! The ministry of Home of Grace has started in Warsaw since February 7 of 2005. Later, gracious God blessed us a bigger base to continue our service in Poland. …(IV) Beginning of Ministry in London, UK：…In July of 2010, Home of Grace held a convention in Warsaw for one month. Church leaders and brothers and sisters had come from China, Hong Kong, UK, France, Spain and other East European countries to attend this meeting. Everyday we had two sessions of Bible Study in the morning, prayer meeting in the afternoon, and “Topic Sharing” in the evening. I was sick and in pains during that whole session. I thought that I was old and had no strength. Since others were taking care of those meetings, I decided to go to bed earlier than usual. But the Lord warned me in a dream, “Do not ‘drop behind!’ Never ‘drop behind!’ Make effort to build yourself up in the Holy Truth. Take root below. Strain to reach what lies ahead. Press on forward. Do not think that you have known the Bible well. The Lord’s words are new every morning.” …Praise the Lord! By God’s mercy who gave me strength, I was able to persist in paying attention to read His words and strain to reach what lies ahead….Soon after that the Holy Spirit moved me to go to London. A sister accompanied me for that trip. Though I did bring with me some savings from Home of Grace in Warsaw and my own, I had no faith in buying a base for our ministry in London. I had heard that it would take millions of British pounds to buy a detached house in London. What I had was a heart like that child who took out his five loaves of bread and two small fish. He offered them completely to the Lord. Jesus took them, gave thanks, and broke them. At once little became much. …When we arrived in London, we were insulted, laughed at and looked down. Many thought we could never afford to buy a base in London. Facing all the difficulties, we felt so discouraged and oppressed. Hallelujah! Our Lord really “dropped” a house for us from heaven. It happened just the day before we left London. From a website we found a Park Home was for sale. It asked for a price of 160,000 (one hundred and sixty thousands) British pounds and it would be yours forever. A real estate agent drove us to see that Park Home. It was fully furnished. In this compound, each house was detached; each had a nice green grass garden. They were so gorgeous just like houses in the fairy tale. We were so joyful that we hated to leave….But we had to face the cruel reality: a deadline to meet. We must pay every penny of it by the end of December. It was October 21 when we first saw that Park Home. Since then we had gone through many ups and downs, and difficulties. Finally, God provided enough money for us from fellow brothers and sisters all over the world. Some kindly lent it to us, some simply offered by faith. Several bases of Home of Grace in China and America also made some contribution. On November 18, we moved into that Park Home. God truly gave our ministry a little home-base in UK as a starting point. Since December 10 of 2010 some of our co-workers had started to station there, serving the Lord by reading the Bible and interceding for West Europe and for all nations day and night….All the glory and praise to the Most High. How faithful He is! He has blessed us six bases for the vision of City of Refuge, according to His calling….I beg God to forgive my co-workers and me that we have been delaying and falling behind God’s earnest calling for this ministry. As a result of it, this ministry has progressed so slow that many souls have been lost. …In conclusion I want to thank God because, “… God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him.” (1 Corinthians 1:27-29) May God use us, the lowly, to proclaim His Truth all over the world and to prosper the will of God. May God help us to grasp His promises and join together constantly in prayers though we are in different places on earth. The Almighty God is sure to turn the overall darkness into the bright light; a great persecution into a great revival. Now let us give praise and honor to our Almighty God!

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