“You must repent and become holy servants of God.” On the stage of the14th General Assembly of World Evangelical Alliance (October 27-31), renowned Chinese evangelist Pastor Stephen Tong loudly urged the delegates, delivering the shortest sermon of his preaching career.

“I have been given only fifteen minutes to speak to you, and that includes the time for translation,” PastorTong began candidly, catching the attending pastors' interest, “This will be my shortest sermon ever—my longest was in Washington, for seven and a half hours.” The audience laughed, and he immediately got to the point. He focused on one key point—the holiness of the gospel messenger.

PastorTong said he had “greatly condensed” the message: “If you are a messenger of the Gospel, you must listen carefully to my message. I agreed to come, even with this time constraint, because I know that God has a message to tell you through me.”

If you are not holy, you cannot be a servant of God

“If you are not holy, you cannot be a servant of God,” he said directly. “God called us to be His children, and as He who called you is holy, so He calls us to be holy before Him. Are you holy? Is your mind holy? Is your mouth holy? Is the message you preach a holy word?”

His tone was loud and urgent: “I see too many pastors living in sin, yet still daring to ascend the pulpit week after week. This is a deception, and it must end. The Bible says: ‘Unless you repent, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.’ John the Baptist’s first message was ‘The kingdom of heaven is near; repent,’ and Jesus’ first message was also ‘The kingdom of heaven is near; repent.’”

The audience responded warmly, echoing “Amen.”

PastorTong emphasized that Jesus’ three and a half years of earthly ministry revolved around one theme—“the kingdom of God.” However, many Christians attend Sunday service year after year without understanding the meaning of the kingdom of God.
“Even after His resurrection, Jesus spent another 40 days teaching them about the Kingdom. And what was their final question to him, after all that time? They asked, 'Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?' They were still focused on an earthly, political kingdom.”

“Imagine the disappointment of our Lord,” PastorTong said with reproach. “I see this same failure in the church today. It is a deep disappointment. Today, many Christians are the same. The Korean church thinks only of the destiny of South Korea, but not of the will of God.”

“They are missing the very heart of the Kingdom.” Pastor Tong added, “Yet, in His deep love, He remained patient with them.”

The Spirit of Holiness: Power for Witness, Not Wonders

PastorTong shared that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of holiness and comes to empower believers to bear witness. He quoted Acts 1:7-8, reminding pastors to understand the Bible accurately and teach correctly. If Christians only attend weekly Services but learn incorrect teachings, they deviate from the way of the kingdom.

“The coming of the Holy Spirit is to empower witnessing. If you don’t repent, you can’t enter God’s kingdom; if you don’t have the Spirit, you have no power to preach the gospel.”

How do we know if someone has the Holy Spirit? PastorTong frankly said the Holy Spirit is holy; preachers must live holy lives if they want to preach the holy Bible. Preachers are not sent to talk politics, capitalism, or communism but to preach God’s holy word.

“If you are a messenger of the Gospel, you must listen carefully to my message. I agreed to come, even with this time constraint, because I know that God has a message to tell you through me. And that message is about one thing: the holiness of the Gospel messenger. And I must be direct, because I see a crisis. I see too many pastors living in sin, yet still daring to ascend the pulpit week after week. This is a deception, and it must end.”

“When your preaching and your life are based on the Bible and you live a holy life, only then can you say you are filled with the Holy Spirit,” PastorTong said bluntly. “How many church leaders deceive churches and believers? They live in adultery, lie, deceive, love money but claim to have the Holy Spirit—that is false.”

If you live in sin, do not dare to stand on the pulpit

“I will deliver a solemn command to every one of you who stands in a pulpit. If you are still living in sin, do not dare to go up to the pulpit. If you are busy with business, addicted to power, or even caught in adultery, do not dare to desecrate that sacred space—the holy pulpit, which is the very place where the holy God, through His holy word, builds His holy church. You must repent. God's work begins with repentance.”

He further explained repentance is not regret or guilt: “True repentance is recognizing God’s holiness and understanding what sins offend God. Repentance involves emotions—you hate sin, hate everything against God. Repentance is not only intellectual agreement but hatred of sin in your heart, turning to God.”

“A truly repentant person abandons all evil and turns back to God; asks for Jesus' forgiveness, asks for His mercy, and receives His salvation... Repentance is turning to Christ and walking with Him. This is not a one-time event. It is the daily, continuous lifestyle of every believer and especially every minister. Whenever God shines a light on the darkness in your heart, you should immediately ask for His forgiveness, leave the sin, and kneel before Him in repentance. This life of continual repentance is the only thing that makes you a useful instrument in the hands of a holy God.”

Without Holiness, No Sight of the Lord

“If a man cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.” (2 Timothy 2:21) “God is holy, and He only uses holy vessels. The requirement is non-negotiable.”

“For without holiness no one will see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14) “I challenge you directly based on this verse: If you do not pursue holiness, do not call yourself a servant of God. If you truly want to be a servant of the Lord, you must say in your heart at all times: 'Lord, I want to be holy.'”

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Matthew 5:8) “A 'pure heart' is a single-minded heart. A person with a pure heart has only one direction, one purpose—to please God.”

“Why do we as Christians fail to be holy? The reason is a divided heart. We have too many conflicting purposes. We love God, but we love money more than God. We love Jesus, but we also love power. We love the Bible, but we love things outside the Bible too much. When the heart is divided and pursues too many things, it cannot live exclusively for the Lord.”

Holy people are not sinless but Sin-Sensitive

“A holy person is not someone who is sinless. A holy person is extremely sensitive to sin. If sin enters his eye, he cannot bear it and must remove it. The constant prayer of a holy person is, ‘God, cleanse the depths of my heart so that I may remain holy.’”

“Jesus came to cleanse His priests. The scripture says He will ‘cleanse the sons of Levi.’ Who are the sons of Levi? They are those who minister before the Lord—they are the pastors. Only a cleansed vessel can offer a sacrifice that God will accept.”

As his limited sermon time neared its end, PastorTong passionately said, “My time is up… but I urge you all—to become holy servants of God.”

He invited the attendees to respond: “If you are sitting here now and are willing to say to God: 'Lord, I want to be holy, please bless me and cleanse my heart'—may you be cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus.”