Week of 30 May 2021

HWMR

The Intrinsic Building Up of the Church for Its Organic Function

The intrinsic building up of the church is through all the perfected members of the Body of Christ. Christ, the ascended Head has given gifts — the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers — for the perfecting of the saints in the local churches. The perfecting of the saints is “unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ”. The many gifted persons have only one ministry, that is, to minister Christ to people for the building up of the Body of Christ, this is the unique ministry in the New Testament economy. This building up is not accomplished directly by the gifted ones but by the saints who have been perfected by the gifted ones. The work of the gifts is indirect, but the work of the saints is direct.

Eventually, all the members of the Body of Christ will “arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man”. The oneness of the Spirit in verse 3 is the oneness of the divine life in reality. The word arrive in verse 13 indicates that a process is required for us to arrive at the oneness of our living in practicality. The oneness of reality is the beginning, and the oneness in practicality is the destination. The oneness in practicality is the oneness of the faith and is also the oneness of the full knowledge of the Son of God. To arrive at “a full-grown man” is to arrive at maturity in life; maturity is needed for the practical oneness.

For the building up of the Body of Christ, we need to hold to the truth in love so that we may “grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ” . To grow in life is to grow into the Head, Christ, but to operate in the Body is to operate out from Him.

The organic function of the church is in the organic Body of Christ and in the local expressions of the organic Body of Christ and by the move of the Triune God in the operations of God, through the ministries of the Lord and through the gifts of the Spirit in His manifestations to the members of the organic Body of Christ. The Triune God does not move apart from us; when we move, He moves. The organic function of the church is for the building up of the church as the organic Body of Christ, the fullness of the all-inclusive One who fills all in all.

(Source: https://www.churchintaipei.org/bible-truth/conference-training.html)

Experience of Christ as Life

How to Pray-read

Simply pick up the Word and pray-read a few verses in the morning and in the evening. There is no need for you to exercise your mind in order to squeeze out some utterance, and it is unnecessary to think over what you read. Just pray with the same words you read. On every page and in every verse there is a living prayer.

There is no need to close your eyes when you are pray-reading. Keep your eyes on the Word as you pray. In all sixty-six books of the Bible, we cannot find one verse which says that we must close our eyes to pray, but there is a verse telling us that Jesus lifted up His eyes to heaven, saying, “Father...”. He was looking toward heaven while He was praying. We would not argue in a doctrinal way, but we must realize that there is no need for us to close our eyes when we pray. It is better for us to close our mind! For example, in pray-reading Galatians 2:20 simply look at the printed page, which says, “I am crucified with Christ.” Then with your eyes upon the Word and praying from deep within, say: “Praise the Lord, ‘I am crucified with Christ.’ Hallelujah! ‘Crucified with Christ.’ Amen! ‘I am.’ O Lord, ‘I am crucified.’ Praise the Lord! ‘Crucified with Christ.’ Amen! ‘I am crucified with Christ’ Hallelujah! Amen! ‘And it is no longer.’ Amen. ‘No longer.’ Amen. ‘I who live.’ O Lord. ‘I who live.’ Hallelujah! Amen! ‘But it is Christ who lives in me,’ etc.” Then perhaps you will turn to John 10:10 and read, “I have come that they may have life.” Then with your eyes still on the Bible you can pray: “‘I have come.’ Amen! ‘I have come.’ Hallelujah! ‘I have come that they may have life.’ Praise the Lord! ‘May have life.’ Hallelujah! ‘Life.’ Amen! ‘Life.’ O Lord, ‘Life.’” There is no need for you to compose any sentences or create a prayer. Just pray-read the Word. Pray the words of the Bible exactly as they read. Eventually, you will see that the whole Bible is a prayer book! You can open to any page of the Bible and start to pray with any portion of the Word. The Bible is the Book, the Holy Book. Every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God is different from anything else, even the best of the world.

The world has only the words of human beings, but the Bible has the Word of God! Every word in this Book is the Word of God. Although you may not understand a certain passage, still you are nourished while pray-reading it, because there is really something of God in His Word; the Word of God is His very breath. There is no need to explain or expound the Word; simply pray with the Word. Forget about reading, researching, understanding, and learning the Word. You must pray-read the Word. Then eventually you will really understand it. If you will practice this you will receive something so nourishing and strengthening within which will empower you and give you life all the time.

Perhaps you are quite familiar with the entire book of Romans. But even today, you still need to pray-read one or two verses of it. Though we may know all about food, yet we still must partake of some food daily. Regardless of how much we know about it, we still must eat it! To know is one thing, but to eat is another. We must not only know food, we must eat it. How many times have you read the Gospel of John? Perhaps you have read it more than fifty times. But how much of that book has been taken into you as your nourishment and enjoyment? To know, to understand, and even to recite the Gospel of John is one thing. But to take it in, to eat it or to enjoy it bit by bit, is another thing. You may have been a Christian for many years, but regardless of how long you have been a Christian and regardless of how many times you have read this book, you must not only read it, but pray-read it! You must eat it, partake of it, and enjoy it day by day.

(Pray-reading the Word, chap. 1)

On the Gospel

The Testimony of the Gospel

On the day of Pentecost, when Peter stood up with the eleven and began to speak, he was very bold. Later, he went to the temple, healed a lame man, and took the opportunity afforded by the healing to speak a strong word to many in the temple. He said, “You denied the holy and righteous One...whom God has raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. According to verse 14, Peter used the word denied in referring to the Jews' rejection of the Lord. Although about fifty-three days earlier Peter had denied the Lord three times, he condemned the Jews for denying and rejecting Jesus. Someone listening could have said, “On the night that the Lord Jesus was taken way, did you not also deny and reject Him three times?” We need to see that on the one hand, Peter had failed because he had denied the Lord. However, on the day of Pentecost Peter became a different person, for he had received the Holy Spirit inwardly and outwardly.

Both the disciples and the Jews had committed the sin of denying and rejecting the Lord. However, after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Peter seemed to say to the Jews, “You denied Jesus; you committed this sin.” Peter had the boldness to say this because he had experienced the forgiveness of his sins. He realized that his sins were forgiven and that his conscience was no longer under condemnation. He knew the meaning of the cross and the effectiveness of the precious blood. He recognized that he was forgiven before God and reconciled to God. He knew that his denial of the Lord did not cause the Lord to disown him but that, through his repentance and the cleansing of the Lord's blood, his sins were forgiven by God. Thus, on the day of Pentecost he and the others could receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and he could later speak boldly in the temple, telling the Jews that they had committed the sin of denying the Lord Jesus and that their sin still remained.

Someone among the crowd could have said, “Peter, you also denied the Lord,” but Peter would have been able to reply, “Yes, over fifty days ago I denied Him, but He did not disown me. I have repented, and now my sins are forgiven. I am no longer denying the Lord but preaching Him. In the past I was like you, but now I am different from you. If you want to be like me, you must confess your

sins and repent.”

Suppose a person, prior to his salvation, enjoyed gambling, drinking, and smoking, but one day after receiving the Lord he speaks to unbelievers, saying, “You are sinners. You like to gamble, dance, smoke, and drink. You are wallowing in sins.” A friend of his who hears him may sneer at him and ask, “Were you not also like me some time ago?” However, the truth is that the one preaching is not the same person anymore. Prior to his salvation he was like his friends, wallowing in his sins, but after his salvation he became different from them. Before receiving the Lord, he could join his friends in gambling and drinking. However, after he received the Lord, he could no longer do such things. While his friends are indulging in sin, he remains in Christ. When they gamble, he remains in God's presence. He is greatly different from what he formerly was. His sins have been forgiven, and he is separated from all the worldly things. Thus, when he speaks concerning the forgiveness of sins, he is not giving a message on the doctrine of the forgiveness of sins. Rather, he, the person speaking, is standing as a living testimony of the forgiveness of sins. This is the gospel.

The Focus of the Gospel

In the past, before any gospel campaign many saints were occupied with making outward preparations, including the preparation of gospel vests, advertisements, tracts, hospitality arrangements, the obtaining and setting up of a meeting, and many other things. Although we need these outward preparations, even more we need a genuine preparation in spirit before God. We need to deal with the sins that hinder our fellowship with God, with the affairs of this world that entangle us, and with the things that hinder us from living in resurrection and ascension. Not only a few of the leading ones but also all the saints should have dealings concerning these matters in a detailed way.

This does not mean that we do not need the outward preparations. The outward preparations are necessary, but they are secondary. We need to invite people to the gospel meeting, to pray for the ones coming, and to make all the various practical preparations. If we did not invite people, labor in prayer, or prepare practically for the meeting, we would be unbalanced. However, some things are more important than others. Thus, everything should be taken care of in an orderly way and at the proper time. We must see and care for the most important matters by taking care of them in a thorough way. Then, we can care for items of secondary importance in an orderly manner.

Our primary concern before a gospel meeting is that all who are burdened for the gospel and all who have a part in the gospel meeting would come into God's presence to deal with every aspect of their inward condition. We must deal with our sins, the world, our realization of the Lord's resurrection, our experience of the ascended Lord, and our practical living before God. If we have thorough dealings concerning these five items, we will immediately see that we are joined to God and mingled with God and have become one with God. After these dealings the outpouring of the Holy Spirit will spontaneously be ours. We will be filled with the Spirit outwardly, and inwardly we will be filled with the Lord Jesus as our burden. Thus, we will be able to declare Him and be a testimony of Him.

When we have thorough dealings before the Lord with matters such as sins, the world, our living in resurrection and ascension, and our living before God and in God, we will be full of Christ and full of the Holy Spirit within. Then our inviting people to the gospel meeting will be living, and our interceding for others, distributing gospel tracts, putting up gospel posters, and singing of hymns also will be living. Whatever we do related to the gospel meeting will be living, including our service during the meeting, our speaking to our gospel friends and leading them to pray at the end of the meeting, and our visiting them after the meeting.

I am afraid that many brothers and sisters are enthusiastic toward the gospel but have not had sufficient dealings before God concerning their sins and concerning the world. They also do not live in resurrection, have not touched the position of ascension, and do not live in God. They have only been stirred up in their feelings and influenced by the excitement in the atmosphere. Thus, when they see others preaching the gospel, inviting people to the gospel meeting, and serving in the meeting, they desire to do the same things. If this situation continues, all our activities will be man-made, and even though we may be able to bring many to the meeting, our efforts will be of little spiritual value.

The fruit of a tree tells what kind of tree it is. The children we bear tell what sort of persons we are. If we are shallow, have little weight and authority, and rely merely on excitement and enthusiasm to preach the gospel, those whom we bring to the Lord will be like us—shallow and without much weight before God.

(Christ Being the Burden of the Gospel, Chapter 2, Section 5)