Home meetings, week 4, Tuesday, chapter 6

HOME MEETINGS

Chapter 6

SPEAKING IN LIFE

WEEK 4 - TUESDAY

Bible Reading: John 21:1-14

Read and pray: “Jesus said to them, Come and eat. None of the disciples dared to ask Him, Who are You? because they knew that it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish.” (John 21:12,13)

THE NEED TO COOK AND TO TEACH (2)

In the elders’ training in February 1984, I told them how they should take care of the meetings. As an elder one should not go to the meeting to occupy it with his speaking. This is not the way to build up the church. The way to build up the church is to gather the saints, encourage them to speak, and charge them to have each one’s speaking.

Whenever one participates in a large or small meeting, one should first labor much in the Word. First one must equip and prepare oneself with something before going to the meeting. All the saints must be allowed to participate in the meeting.

In the case that they have nothing to open the meeting, after some minutes you must serve them a prepared dish. This means that we must give them a living word that lasts less than ten minutes and is rich, enlightening, awakening, and refreshing.

Then return the meeting to all the saints. Perhaps some will continue saying something. Later, it is possible that they will stop speaking. Then bring something again, another dish, to serve them. In this way, all the saints will be trained to function in the meetings.

This is not so easy; it requires much preparation. It requires much work. From my observations, it is more difficult to take care of the church as an elder than simply to go out to give conferences. Giving conferences is a great enjoyment, but staying in the locality to take care of at least four or five meetings per week is not so easy.

Taking care of the church requires a heavy burden, and what weighs the most is taking care of the meetings. This is exactly like a mother or a wife at home. A mother’s care in cooking for her family is truly hard work.

You need to understand that in a family a good mother must do something else necessary, that is, teach her children. They should not only send their children to school but also help them do their homework.

When they return home with their schoolbooks, you have to teach them. Then you can expect that your children will be raised properly both physically and mentally. Physically, they obtain from you the food cooked at home, and they also receive proper education.

To be such wives, you need qualification and effort. This is especially clear in this country. Not only here, but in every country of this world, families know this. Wives must properly feed the children and teach them so that they may have education. A church is a family, and the elders are actually the mothers. They must cook and educate.

This is why I tell you strongly that we need to change our system. Our current practice is mainly to give a message. A message might at most stir you up, giving you some inspiration.

Such a meeting is not an educational matter. To carry out educational teaching we need something like a lesson book. In the fifty-two weeks of the year, we need a good sequence, at least one or two lessons per week.

Educating children is a difficult work. Buildings must be constructed, schools established, teachers trained, a faculty organized, and classes set up. For the education of our children many things must be done to give them the proper knowledge of human culture.

It is up to the mother to coordinate with the school, knowing how to send the children, in which grade they will study, and to care for their lesson books, organizing their tasks and so on.

This is a good illustration, but no church has been seen that is like a family. The elders do only some kind of routine work, according to the traditional system of Christianity, that is, to gather the people, sing a hymn, have some prayers, and give them a message.

This is easy to do, but to take care of a meeting as a mother takes care of the children in cooking and education must be the work of the elders. It is no wonder that Paul said that the elders must be apt to teach and therefore must labor in the word and in the teaching.

This is my burden. All the elders must change their mentality to make a real turn from the way we are taking currently. We must set our attention on the new way, that is, first cooking and second teaching.

Just as a housekeeper, you must cook in adequate time the proper food, nutritious, tasty, and economical for the family.

You must also teach. Even if you send your children to the schools, you must still have the teaching at home. If the mothers cannot do the teaching work at home, it will be difficult for the children to continue in their education.

Today, in every local church, the elders and the leading ones, including the sisters, must practice this. They must continually cook appropriate meals for all the saints, and they must always be apt to teach. To do this, you must labor much.

🌿 Enjoy more:

Hymn: Service – “Minister Christ”

https://hinario.org/detail.php?id=991

Home meetings, week 4, Monday, chapter 6

HOME MEETINGS

Chapter 6

SPEAKING IN LIFE

WEEK 4 – MONDAY

Bible Reading: 1 Tim 3:2; 1 Tim 5:17

Read and pray: “Who then is the faithful and prudent slave, whom the master has set over his household slaves, to give them their food at the proper time?” (Matt 24:45)

THE NEED TO COOK AND TO TEACH

In October of 1984 I realized that we needed to have a radical change in our way of meeting and in our way of caring for the saints in the meetings. We have to change. I call the old way the “lazy way.” If food is bought and stored but there is no effort to cook it, this is simply laziness.

Whether a nation is strong or weak depends mainly on its people, its citizens. If there are strong and proper families, surely there will be strong and proper citizens. Then the country is strong. If there are no proper families, it is difficult to have an adequate society.

Families are the real and basic factors for building up society and the nation. To build up a proper and strong family, first we must take care of the meals and, in second place, of the education.

If the wife does not take proper care of the children in these two matters, meals and education, one should not expect this family to be proper. The future of this family will be lamentable. The wife, the mother of the family, must work and cook. You may spend four hours cooking a meal or you may spend ten minutes.

A proper meal is both nutritious and tasty. It also should not be very expensive. These are the principles you need to observe. To do this, you need to labor.

You cannot go to the market and choose the things quickly. As the wife and mother of the family, you need to work a lot. I would like to propose that you take an hour to prepare breakfast. This involves buying, preparing, cooking, and serving.

For lunch you will need an hour and a half, and for dinner at least two hours. Perhaps you will say: “We cannot! We have to go to work, we have to study and do many other things.” The opinion is yours. If you want to kill yourselves gradually, and also your children, such a decision is in your hands. It depends on what you want.

Do you want to have a healthy family? You may argue that you do not have enough hours in the day, but I say: “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Young people may cut their hours of sleep from eight to seven hours. Just cut a little, but do not cut the hours for cooking or the hours for eating.

If you cook with very little time and eat very fast, surely you will not have good health. How good you are as wives or mothers is measured by the time you spend cooking. Any unhappiness in a family is due mainly to insufficiency in cooking.

In Christianity, the members of a church are cared for in a lazy way. There is simply not much cooking. I hope that all who take the lead—not only the elders, but all who are concerned for the church, and those who have a sincere interest in the Lord’s recovery, including myself—will get out of the old way.

Since you are the housewives and the mothers in the church, you need to labor in the word and in the teaching (1 Tim 5:17). Paul said that the overseers must be “apt to teach” (1 Tim 3:2). This phrase does not mean to teach casually, but to teach in a habitual way. Apt to teach implies habit, desire, or appetite for teaching. The overseers, the elders in the church, must be such, apt to teach.

In 1 Timothy 5, Paul says that the elders must labor to the point that they cannot work at another job. “Let the elders who take the lead well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in word and teaching” (lit. v. 17).

The double honor includes economic supplementation because they labor so much and are fully occupied with the needs of the church. For a human being to do something, time is needed. If you are completely occupied physically and mentally, you will not be able to do anything else.

“Labor” in this verse is to labor in the word and in the teaching. By this criterion, all the elders are not very diligent. They do not labor much in the Word, and they do not labor adequately in the teaching. The elders are always afraid of being assigned to speak, because speaking is difficult.

However, you need to realize that in our practice of the church life, the speaking of the elders has been to give a message. To give a message is easy, but to care for the church as an elder or to cook a little all the time for the saints is difficult.

🌿 Enjoy more:

Hymn: Praise the Lord – “In Remembrance of Him”

https://hinario.org/detail.php?id=285

Home meetings, week 4, Sunday, chapter 6

HOME MEETINGS

Chapter 6

SPEAKING IN LIFE

WEEK 4 - SUNDAY

Bible Reading: Hos. 7:8; Col. 3:16; John 6:63b

Pray-reading: “Jesus then said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread out of heaven; but My Father gives you the true bread out of heaven.” (John 6:32)

THE SCARCITY OF EDIFICATION AND LIGHT

The subject of this message is very simple — “speaking in the way of life” — yet I feel the burden. We are nearly at the end of the twentieth century. We have studied church history, read the biographies and classic writings of the Lord’s servants of past centuries.

We have studied Christianity for a long time and have abundantly experienced the church life. We are in the United States, the leading country of Christianity, where there are many Christian activities, Christian denominations, Christian groups, and so on.

Despite all this, if we look at the present situation, we would be almost entirely disillusioned. What can we see today? We can see the Catholic Church, the large denominations, all the medium-sized Christian groups, the small ones, and the churches in the Lord’s recovery. It is not very encouraging.

Indeed, every situation is quite discouraging, or at least has something discouraging in it. The disappointment lies mainly in two things. First, there is no edification.

After twenty centuries of Christian history, what is the result today? The result seems to be only the continuation of the great Christianity. Including the Catholic members, today’s Christians make up at least one-fourth of the world’s population.

Among so many Christians, many are false, nominal, yet a good number are genuine. Among the genuine ones, however, we can see very little edification.

Second, there is ignorance in today’s Christianity. Most Catholics simply follow their superstitions. They believe that a statue in front of a cathedral can do something for them. This is superstition.

They also believe in superstitious tales about angelic activities said to have occurred centuries ago in Spain, France, and Italy. These things are abundant due to the nature of Catholicism.

Ignorance is also seen in the Protestant denominations, even in the Lutheran Church, which is founded on the belief in justification by faith. If we ask a Lutheran to say something about justification by faith, I do not believe he will be able to do it well. This is a strong indication of ignorance. In fact, it is not only ignorance but confusion.

Even among the genuine believers, few are in the light. Is there any edification in today’s Pentecostalism? Is there any light? Well, I would say that superstitious waves have also invaded Pentecostalism.

They like to talk about dreams, speak of great prophecies, and practice healings. I have attended some healing sessions and did not see any genuine healing. All I saw was a performance with a certain type of artificial healing. The leaders knew it was false, yet everyone believed in those healings. This is superstition, without edification and with no illumination.

Now let us consider our situation. Forget about others and let us criticize ourselves. Are you built up? How many of you are built up? I must admit that we are no better than anyone else.

If we compare ourselves with those who have nothing, at least we have something. And what about the light? During these last eleven and a half years, we have had two trainings each year. In each training, thirty messages were spoken and printed.

Many of you have hundreds of Life-study messages on your shelves, but I do not believe that ten percent of them are in your hearts and in your minds. Our situation is like that of a housewife whose husband bought many groceries, but she never cooked them.

🌿 Enjoy more:

Hymn: Experience of Christ – “As Food and Drink”

https://hinario.org/detail.php?tab=1&mainmp3=admin/Uploaded-mp3-Files/1147.mp3.final.mp3&id=1226

Home meetings, week 3, Saturday, chapter 5

HOME MEETINGS

Chapter 5

THE WAY TO SPEAK IN THE

HOME MEETINGS

WEEK 3 – SATURDAY

Bible Reading: Eph. 6:17; Col. 3:16; 1 Tim. 6:3

Read and pray: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing to God with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts.” (Col. 3:16)

THE WORD OF CHRIST DWELLING

IN US FOR OUR SPEAKING

You may have faith, have the spirit, and have the Holy Spirit, yet when you try to speak, you feel that you have nothing to say. Yet you say you lack experiences. That is correct, but I say that you lack not only experiences, but also the word of Christ.

Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” We must observe that in this verse Paul said, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.”

This kind of tone indicates that the word of Christ is here waiting for your permission to enter. It seems that a Person is waiting, waiting for you to allow Him to enter. Years ago, when I read this verse, I disagreed with this kind of tone.

Why did Paul say, “Let… the word of Christ dwell in you”? This indicates that the living word of Christ is waiting for permission to enter. This word is personified as a living Person.

We do not say, “The table dwells in the room.” A table cannot dwell because it has no life. Whatever can dwell in your house must be a living being. A lifeless thing cannot dwell.

Paul said, “Let… the word of Christ dwell in you,” and the New Testament tells us that Christ is the Word. Not only that, the Spirit is also the Word (Eph. 6:17).

The Word, Christ, the Spirit, and God—these four are actually one. These are four synonyms referring to this one unique Person. God is Christ, Christ is the Spirit, the Spirit is the Word, and the Word is God, Christ, and the Spirit. Therefore, the Word is a living Person. Paul did not say the word of someone else or of something else. He said the word of Christ.

Surely this is the organic Word, the living Word, the Word that exists as a living Person. This Word waits to enter into you. Open yourselves and allow it to enter. Colossians 3:16 continues: “teaching and admonishing one another… with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.”

If you read this verse carefully, you may find some controversy. First it is the Word, but eventually it becomes a psalm or a hymn.

The principle is this: if you do not speak a certain word many times, that word could never become a psalm or a song. Whatever becomes a psalm or hymn must be a word that has been spoken one, two, three times, four times, many, many times; then that word will become a psalm.

You cannot compose a song unless you compose it with words you have spoken repeatedly. The same word you have spoken again and again will eventually become a poem, a song, a hymn, or a psalm.

For example, Hymn 499 (English) in our hymnal says:

“Oh! What a life! Oh! What a peace!

Christ who is all lives in me.”

This poem was composed by me. For years, I always spoke this:

“Christ who is all lives in me.

I am crucified with Him…

Now it is no longer I who live,

But the Lord lives in me.”

I also continued with the next stanza:

“Today Christ is being formed in me.

His divine life is now being wrought into me.

What I am has come to its end, and Christ is everything in me.”

I always spoke this, and eventually it became a song. This indicates that we must allow the Lord’s word to dwell in us to such an extent that eventually it becomes a song, a hymn, or a psalm.

Psalms are long poems, hymns are shorter, and spiritual songs are even shorter.

The word of Christ is personified; it is a living Person waiting for your permission to enter. Once you allow Him to enter, He will take over your speaking again and again. Eventually this speaking will become poetry with rhythm and rhyme.

Sometimes when you begin to speak for the Lord, you feel strange. When you speak worldly things—which you have been speaking for many years—you can express them like a song, like a psalm with rhythm and rhyme. But when you began to speak Christ after being saved only two weeks, it was something strange to you.

We must allow the word of Christ, as a Person, to dwell in us, and we will speak this word fluently until we become used to it, and until it becomes poetry in our speaking.

We all must learn to speak Christ and become accustomed to speaking Christ. We need to become accustomed to such an extent that everything we speak is a kind of poetry, a song, a psalm, and a hymn. In this way we will speak healthy words (1 Tim. 6:3).

In conclusion, first we must realize that God desires us to speak. He desires all His people to prophesy. Second, to speak we need the Spirit. This Spirit is upon us and within us. Hallelujah! We have been baptized in the Spirit; therefore, the Spirit is upon us.

We have also drunk the Spirit; therefore, the Spirit is within us. We have the Spirit. Now we only need to exercise and say Amen to what the Bible says. The Bible says that the Spirit is within us. We say, “Amen.”

We exercise this Spirit of faith and feel that we are truly in the Spirit, and that the Spirit is upon us and also within us. When I speak, He speaks in my speaking. We must practice this throughout the whole day.

If there is no one to speak to, simply speak to the angels in the air or to the demons around you. Allow the living word of Christ to enter and dwell in you. Then speak Christ, not with common, ordinary, worldly expressions, but with Himself as the Word.

We must learn the spiritual terminology, the spiritual phrases, and the spiritual prayers. This is why it is good to take the hymnal and recite some hymns. This will help you express something.

Along with this, we need our daily experiences. But I assure you that if you are people who exercise to speak by faith, with the Spirit and with the Holy Spirit, spontaneously you will experience Christ.

You will experience Christ throughout the whole day, not only in great things but especially in all the small ones such as: combing your hair, dressing, putting on your shoes, what kind of shoes to buy, and which color to choose.

In all the small things you will experience Christ. Then you will have the accumulation of the rich experience of Christ, and each time you go to the meetings, you will be accustomed to speaking, and you will simply speak. Speak Christ, speak for Christ, and utter Christ as the living Word.

If we are all willing to do this, all the small meetings will be in the third heaven. This will be very attractive and appealing. It will retain people and preserve them, and will produce increase and the growth of life.

This is the proper way. I hope you all will be attracted to this kind of practice so that through us the church may go on in the Lord’s recovery.

🌿 Enjoy more:

Hymn: Experience of Christ — “As Life”

https://hinario.org/detail.php?id=575

Home meetings, week 3, Friday, chapter 5

HOME MEETINGS

Chapter 5

THE WAY TO SPEAK IN

THE HOME MEETINGS

WEEK 3 – FRIDAY

Bible Reading: 1 Cor. 14:26–40

Read and pray: “For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be comforted.” (1 Cor. 14:31)

OUR FAITH, OUR SPIRIT,

AND THE HOLY SPIRIT

Now all of you need to practice. In the home meetings everyone needs to speak by faith. This faith, as we saw in the last message, is involved with the Spirit. This spirit is not merely our spirit nor merely the Holy Spirit, but absolutely a mingled spirit.

Today we know that we have a mingled spirit within us, the Holy Spirit mingling with our spirit. Every time we do not care about the environment or the circumstances, but care only about what the Bible says, we exercise our faith.

Each time we exercise our faith, our spirit is included and the Holy Spirit is also there. Thus we have three things: our faith, our spirit, and the Holy Spirit. We all need to learn to speak in any kind of meeting, exercising our faith, by our spirit, and by the Holy Spirit.

In reality, the three things are one. When we speak by faith, we exercise our spirit. When we exercise our spirit, the Holy Spirit moves in our spirit. This makes the difference.

Speak what the Bible says. If we are willing to exercise our ability to believe, faith will be there. When we speak what the Bible says, the spirit is there and the Holy Spirit is also there. This makes our speaking living.

Today we are not in the age of the Old Testament. We are not in that economy. We are in the New Testament economy. In this economy God has poured out His Spirit upon us. He is like the blowing wind and like the air.

If we open the window, we have the breeze and the air. In the New Testament dispensation the wind blows all day and the air is here all the time. We must believe this according to what the Bible says. Therefore we have the Spirit within us and also the Spirit upon us. Now we are simply those who are baptized in the Spirit and are drinking the one Spirit.

In the New Testament, especially in Acts, the baptism of the Spirit refers to the coming down of the Spirit upon the believers. Both the baptism in the Spirit and the coming down of the Spirit refer to the same act.

In the Old Testament the word baptism or baptize is not used, but the concept of descending [of the Spirit] is there. The Spirit of Jehovah came down upon His people. This coming down of the Spirit is like the baptism of the Spirit.

This baptism has been completely carried out, and the result now rests upon us. We must believe this and practice it. Even at home, when you speak with your families concerning Christ, you must exercise faith and the spirit.

You need to believe that the Spirit is upon you and in you. When you speak with your children, you need to speak in this way. Unfortunately, we feel that we need faith, spirit, and the Holy Spirit only when we are going to give a message.

We do not feel such a need when we speak with our wife, our husband, our parents, or our children. Our way of speaking with them, without faith, may put them to sleep. But divine speaking will never make them sleepy. Rather, it wakes them up.

If we practice divine speaking, we will get used to it. Then on the Lord’s Day we will participate in the meeting by speaking. We will not remain silent in the meeting. We will be accustomed to speaking divine speaking. In this way we will speak with faith, with the spirit, and with the Holy Spirit. This is the proper way.

I have a heavy burden because I feel it is difficult for me to stir up your hearts and turn your minds to give full attention to this matter. In the meeting you nod your heads, but when you leave, you simply forget. You do not practice.

Are you willing to promise that from now on you will begin to practice all the time? If you have no one to speak to, simply speak to the air. Perhaps some angels are there and some demons are listening to your speaking.

In any case, simply speak in this way. Speak, speak, speak. Speak by faith. When you do it by exercising your ability to believe, your spirit will be included and the Holy Spirit will also be with you. Then your speaking becomes divine. It is a kind of divine speaking.

It may be that those who are silent in the meetings say, “Brother Lee, don’t blame me. You must blame God who created me like this. This is my disposition. I did not make it, but God did. Brother Lee, you must thank God for His mercy that He created you in this way: speaking, speaking, speaking all the time. I was not created by God in this way, and I cannot speak.”

To say this annuls the word of Paul. Paul said that you can all prophesy.

🌿 Enjoy more:

Hymn: Supplements – Miscellaneous

https://hinario.org/detail.php?id=1522

Home meetings, week 3, Thursday, chapter 5

HOME MEETINGS

Chapter 5

THE WAY TO SPEAK IN

THE HOME MEETINGS

WEEK 3 – THURSDAY

Bible Reading: John 20:22; 1 Cor. 12:13

Read and pray: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing to God with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts.” (Col. 3:16)

THE SPIRIT UPON US AND

WITHIN US FOR OUR SPEAKING

According to the principle revealed in the Scriptures, to speak God, to speak Christ, and to speak for Christ, we certainly need the Spirit. Without the Spirit, we would not speak, and if we spoke, we would feel ashamed.

When someone speaks about science, geography, history, or the political situation, the more he speaks, the prouder he feels. There is no restriction nor frustration in speaking of these things. But every time someone speaks of Jesus, the feeling of shame appears immediately.

It seems difficult to open the mouth to speak of Jesus to people. Unless we have the Spirit, it will indeed be difficult for us to speak Christ. However, when we are filled with the Spirit, we become crazy; it is delightful to speak things concerning Christ to people.

For this reason, in the Old Testament, when the seventy prophesied, the Spirit of God came upon them. As genuine Christians, believers in Christ, do we still need the Spirit of God to come upon us? If you say yes, then you are in the Old Testament.

In the Old Testament, the incarnation and the crucifixion had not been accomplished. There was no resurrection of Christ nor ascension, there was no breathing of the processed Spirit who gives life into the people of God, and there had been no outpouring of the processed Triune Spirit upon the people of God.

Undoubtedly, in the New Testament, the incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and the ascension were fully accomplished. Today our Lord is the processed God. He passed through all the necessary processes, and in His resurrection, He breathed Himself as the life-giving Spirit into His disciples and into us.

He does not need to do this again. He died for us once for all. He does not need to die again for you and for me in particular, for He breathed Himself into His disciples on the day of resurrection (John 20:22). Hallelujah!

Not only this, but in His ascension He poured Himself out as the processed and economical Triune Spirit upon all the members of His Body. All the members of His Body, former or recent, whether Greeks or Jews, slaves or free, were baptized once for all in one Spirit. We were baptized in one Spirit, and now He gives us to drink of this Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13).

Almost all of us have faith that the Spirit is in us. When you are going to argue with your wife, Someone within you will not allow you to do so. That person is the Spirit who indwells. We know that the Spirit is in us and we have the faith to say this.

We also need the assurance that the Spirit is upon us. The impulse to speak proceeds from the Spirit who is now within us. If I did not have the assurance that I have the Spirit within me, I would not now be speaking to you. I believe that the impact of my speaking proceeds from this Spirit who is now upon me.

For more than forty years I diligently practiced the great evangelistic meetings. One morning when I was speaking in a large meeting, I said something to the elementary school students. I told them that even if they thought they had not sinned, at least once someone had stolen chalk at school and taken it home.

I did not know that while I was speaking there was a student who had done exactly that. Later, I found out that in the meeting there was a young boy of about thirteen years of age, the son of a widowed sister. This young boy was very intelligent, but he did not want to listen to his mother speak of the Lord Jesus so that he could be saved.

However, he was in the meeting that morning, and when he heard me speak, he thought to himself: “That is nothing.” Then I asked, “Is that nothing?” It was very strange that I had said it in that way. I said: “Draw circles on the ground with the stolen chalk.” This shocked him. He thought: “Who told this man that I did that?” What I had said was exactly a clear description of what he had done.

It was through this that he repented. Do you think it was me? Actually, this shows that while I was speaking, the Spirit was not only within me but also upon me to carry out the speaking. This occurred in my speaking countless times.

🌿 Enjoy more:

Hymn: Service – “For the Church”

https://hinario.org/detail.php?id=993

Home meetings, week 3, Wednesday, chapter 5

HOME MEETINGS

Chapter 5

THE WAY TO SPEAK IN

THE HOME MEETINGS

WEEK 3 - WEDNESDAY

Bible Reading: Num. 11:25, 28-29; Acts 1:8; 1 Cor. 7:25; 40; 12:3; 14:1, 31

Read and pray: “But Moses said to him, Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” (Num. 11:29)

In the previous message we saw that, in order to practice the home meetings, much emphasis must be placed on mutuality and on speaking. In this message we will see how to speak in the home meetings. The matter of speaking is wonderful.

Suppose that among human beings, in human society, there were no speaking. What would that be like? According to history, human culture depends essentially on speaking. Without language and speaking there would be no culture. Without language there is no possibility of any kind of communication.

GOD’S DESIRE IS THAT ALL

THE PEOPLE PROPHESY

Recently, I discovered that not only in the New Testament, but also in the Old Testament, God expressed His desire regarding His people. In Numbers 11, Moses received the charge to care for the people of Israel, which numbered almost two million. God told Moses to call seventy elders of their camp and gather them in His tabernacle.

When the elders arrived, the Spirit of God came down upon them, and they all began to prophesy. They began to be prophets who spoke for God (Num. 11:25). Two of them were not among those around the tent. Even they began to speak because the Spirit of the Lord was also upon them.

When Joshua heard this, he was displeased and said, “Moses, my lord, forbid them” (Num. 11:28). Moses answered, “...Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” (Num. 11:29). This verse corresponds exactly with Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 14:31: “For you can all prophesy...”.

Obviously, when we say the word prophesy, we understand it to mean to predict, to foretell, to say something before it happens. It is true that prophesy means that. However, in the two biblical languages, Hebrew and Greek, the word prophesy does not specifically mean to predict, but to speak for God.

If someone speaks for himself, this is not prophesying. However, if someone speaks for God, this is prophesying. Not only this, it also means to speak forth God; that is, to speak God from within to without. In this speaking, not only does someone speak for God, but in this kind of divine speaking someone speaks God into others. Someone speaks God to others.

Therefore, prophesying also means foretelling in both Hebrew and Greek, but in the writings of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, there is very little prediction. In Isaiah, a book of sixty-six chapters, all the predictions and forecasts together amount to the equivalent of one chapter. However, the other sixty-five chapters refer to speaking for God and speaking God.

The same happens in Jeremiah. In the fifty-two chapters of the book of Jeremiah, there is little prediction or forecast. It is the same in Ezekiel and also with the minor prophets. The greatest prophet of the Old Testament was Moses. Moses spoke very much in his five books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch. In them there are not many predictions. However, most of what Moses spoke or wrote is a speaking for God and speaking God.

If you want to know God, you need to read these five books from Genesis to Deuteronomy. When you read the five books of Moses, you will have the perception that these books speak God into you. In present terms, these books dispense the very God whom they reveal into our inner being. This is not only the speaking for God, but also the speaking God.

In pentecostalism I heard many pentecostal predictions, but I never saw any fulfillment. The so-called forecasts or prognostications in today’s pentecostalism are, for the most part, false. In China, since 1932, I began to study the pentecostal movement. I heard the prophecies and saw what followed them, but I did not see any fulfillment.

Then, twenty-four years ago, I came to this country and was invited to speak in some pentecostal meetings. I saw how they predicted and how nothing happened. They always began their prophecies with “My people, the time is short,” and always ended with “thus says the Lord.”

In their prophecies they never quoted anything from the New Testament. They always quoted some phrases or verses from the Old Testament, mainly from Isaiah. However, in the New Testament, when the Lord Jesus spoke in the four gospels, He never ended His speaking with “thus says the Lord.”

Besides that, in none of Paul’s fourteen epistles did he say, “Thus says the Lord.” Rather, he said: “...I have no commandment of the Lord; but I give my opinion” (1 Cor. 7:25). He did not say “Thus says the Lord,” but wrote “...I give my opinion, as one who has received mercy from the Lord to be faithful.”

Then at the end of 1 Corinthians 7 he said: “...and I think that I also have the Spirit of God.” This means: “even though I told you my opinion, yet I think that I have the Spirit of God.” He did not say “Thus says the Holy Spirit.” In this we see that this type of pentecostal prophecy takes us back to the Old Testament, forgetting what is revealed in the New Testament.

In the New Testament, especially in Paul’s writings in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, the word prophesy is not used with the intention of predicting. It is used with the intention of speaking for Christ and speaking Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12:3 Paul said: “...no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, Jesus is accursed; and no one can say, Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.”

To say “Lord Jesus” is to prophesy. It is necessary to join verse 3 of chapter 12 with verse 1 of chapter 14. In 14:1 Paul said: “Pursue love, and desire earnestly the spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” To prophesy is simply to speak the Lord Jesus, to speak for Jesus, or Christ. This is speaking in the New Testament sense.

Not only in our meetings, but also in our daily living, we must be people who at all times speak Christ, who at all times speak for Christ, and who at all times speak of Christ. If I meet you and I do not speak of Christ, but instead speak about schools, world situations, Taiwan, Hong Kong, your city, and this and that, I am doing what worldly people do.

Wherever we go and whenever we open our mouths, let us speak Christ, speak for Christ, and speak of Christ. In Acts 1:8 the Lord Jesus tells us clearly that we are all His witnesses. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses.”

A witness is someone who speaks, and speaks only things concerning the person of whom he is bearing witness. We are His witnesses and we must speak Christ, speak for Him, and speak of Him at every opportunity. When young people visit their grandparents, they should not talk so much about other things. They should speak Christ, speak for Christ, and speak of Christ. This is to prophesy.

I do not believe that we can all prophesy in the sense of foreseeing; I cannot and I do not intend to. But we all can speak; we all can prophesy in the sense of speaking Christ or speaking for Christ. For more than fifty years, I have spoken for Him and spoken of Him directly to others. You also can do this.

Paul said: “You can all prophesy” (1 Cor. 14:31). All of you can speak for Christ, speak of Christ, and speak Christ. Speak Christ every day. Certainly, if you love the Lord, have daily good fellowship with Him, for then you will spontaneously be anointed and filled inwardly. You will be anointed outwardly and filled inwardly. Spontaneously you will have much to say, you will have much to speak.

Speak what? Speak Christ, speak for Christ, and speak of Christ. This is strong proof that we Christians must be people who speak. We all need to understand that God’s desire is that we, the Christians, be a speaking people, and we must do everything possible to fulfill His desire.

🌿 Enjoy more:

Hymn: Anelos – “Through Fellowship with Christ”

https://hinario.org/detail.php?id=446

Home meetings, week 3, Tuesday, chapter 4

HOME MEETINGS

Chapter 4

THE WAY TO PRACTICE

THE HOME MEETINGS

WEEK 3 – TUESDAY

Bible Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:10-14

Read and pray: “But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written: I believed; therefore I spoke. We also believe; therefore we also speak,” (2 Cor. 4:13)

WE BELIEVE IN WHAT WE SPEAK

For the home meetings we need mutuality and speaking for edification. However, many of you will say: “Brother Lee, we simply do not have the gift of speaking. Thank the Lord that He has given you the gift of speaking for many hours. But I cannot do it. I am not able. I do not have the gift of speaking.”

Because of our feeling that we are not able to speak in the meetings, we need to consider 2 Corinthians 4:10-14. In these verses Paul speaks of the death of Christ and of His resurrection in a subjective way, in a way that identifies us with the death and resurrection of Christ.

Verses 10 to 12 say: “Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death operates in us, but in you life.”

How can Paul say this? Verse 13 gives us the secret: “But having the same spirit of faith...” What is the “spirit of faith”? Dean Alford in his New Testament for English Readers says that the spirit of faith “is not precisely the Holy Spirit, nor simply a human disposition: the indwelling Holy Spirit penetrates and characterizes the renewed man entirely.”

Vicent in his Word Studies in the New Testament says: “The Spirit of faith; not precisely the Holy Spirit, nor yet a human faculty or disposition, but a union of the two.” The Spirit of faith is the mingling of the Holy Spirit with the human spirit.

We must exercise such a Spirit to believe and to speak the things we have experienced of the Lord, especially His death and resurrection. Faith is in our spirit; it is what is mingled with the Holy Spirit, and not in our mind. The “Spirit” in verse 13 indicates that it is by means of the mingled Spirit that the apostles live a crucified life in resurrection to carry out their ministry.

This Spirit of faith was Paul’s secret. Verse 13 continues: “But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written: I believed; therefore I spoke. We also believe; therefore we also speak.”

Do not believe your feelings or your customs. We must exercise the spirit to believe that we have experienced something of the Lord. Have we not experienced the death of Christ? Have we not experienced the resurrection of Christ? Of course we have!

Now we need to exercise the spirit to speak. First, we must exercise the spirit to believe what we have experienced; then we must exercise the spirit to speak what we believe. We all need to speak in this way.

Perhaps someone will say: “Well, you know that I am simply a sister. I do not know if I have anything to speak. Maybe not.” This is a lie from the usurping enemy. For years the enemy has been usurping us, the Christians. He has made us mute. For years we have remained without speaking in the meetings.

It is time to rebel, to stand up and declare to the enemy: “Get behind me, Satan. I do not believe that. I am not mute. I do not serve a mute idol. I worship a God who speaks and He is speaking within me. His speaking Spirit is mingled with my spirit. Now I can exercise my spirit to believe that I have experienced Christ. I have experienced something of Christ. I have experienced His resurrection as my patience and my endurance. I have experienced Him as life. Christ is my life. I have experienced this, so I exercise my spirit to believe and to speak what I have experienced.”

This is the secret to speaking. In the following messages I will tell you how to acquire the terminology, the terms, the expressions, the phrases, and even the prayers for your speaking. However, in this message we must learn the matter of mutuality as the factor for speaking in our meetings. The secret is to believe that we have experienced something of Christ.

Then we must exercise the spirit to speak what we believe. This speaking will build up the saints and the church. When we speak, we do so by exercising the spirit. We exercise the spirit to believe what we have experienced of Christ and to express what we believe. Seek to practice this.

🌿 Enjoy more:

Hymn: Experience of God – “By Exercising the Spirit”

https://hinario.org/detail.php?id=687

Home meetings, week 3, Monday, chapter 4

HOME MEETINGS

Chapter 4

THE WAY TO PRACTICE THE

HOME MEETINGS

WEEK 3 – MONDAY

Bible Reading: 1 Cor. 12:1-11; 14:26-33

Read and pray: “What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a psalm, a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.” (1 Cor. 14:26)

THE MANIFESTATION OF THE SPIRIT

Now from verse 3 we go to verse 7 of 1 Corinthians 12: “But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all.” In what way is the manifestation of the Spirit given? “For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom…” (v. 8).

The main manifestation of the Spirit is in the word of wisdom and not in miracles, nor in healings, nor in speaking in tongues. The first manifestation is the word of wisdom, then “and to another… the word of knowledge.”

The first manifestation is the word of wisdom and the second is the word of knowledge. This should impress us, that in our home meetings we should be full of words of wisdom and of knowledge.

In the meetings the word of wisdom is at the top and the word of knowledge is not as high. Wisdom is related mainly to our spirit, and knowledge is related to our mind. Wisdom proceeds from our spirit, where the Holy Spirit dwells. Knowledge proceeds from the mind, where our thought is. But do not despise the word of knowledge. These are the two most important manifestations of the Spirit in Christian meetings.

Verse 9 says: “to another faith in the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healings in the one Spirit.” The faith here is the kind of faith that can remove mountains. Verse 10 continues: “to another workings of miracles.” These are works of power. Three things are mentioned: faith to remove mountains, the healing of sicknesses, and the workings of miracles.

Then it says: “to another prophecy.” To prophesy is also to speak. The word of wisdom is for speaking, the word of knowledge is for speaking, and prophecy is for speaking. Then it says: “to another discerning of spirits.” This is to discern which spirit is of God and which is not of God. Then it says: “to another various kinds of tongues.” We know that all tongues are for speaking.

And it continues: “and to another the interpretation of tongues.” The interpretation of tongues is also for speaking. These are nine points of the manifestation of the Spirit. Five are for speaking: the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, prophecy, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. All these five are for speaking. Then there is faith to overcome some obstacles, healings of sicknesses, the workings of miracles, and the discerning of spirits.

In 1 Corinthians 14:26 it says: “What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a psalm, a teaching, a revelation…” A psalm is not only for singing. Ephesians 5 tells us to speak to one another with psalms and hymns. Psalms are not only for singing but also for speaking.

Teachings, without doubt, are for speaking, and revelation is a kind of speaking. Verse 26 continues: “a tongue, and an interpretation.” All these are for speaking. A psalm is for speaking and singing. A teaching is for speaking. A revelation is for speaking. A tongue is for speaking. An interpretation of a tongue is for speaking.

All these five points related to Christian meetings are for speaking. We must study with great care the word in the divine revelation of the Lord.

In chapter twelve, when Paul speaks of the manifestation of the Spirit, he speaks of nine points. Of the nine, four are miraculous things: faith, healing, miracles, and the discerning of spirits. Five are for speaking: the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, prophecy, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues.

Then when he speaks of the meetings in chapter fourteen, he does not refer to healings or miracles. In a shift, everything he speaks concerns speaking. You must psalm. This means you must speak or sing. You need to vocalize.

Then you need to teach by speaking. You need to give a revelation by speaking. You need to speak a tongue and interpret it by speaking. Everything is through speaking.

Then, what must we speak? Concerning all these kinds of speaking. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14:1: “Pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.”

The word prophesy both in Hebrew and in Greek, both in the Old and in the New Testament, means three things. First, to prophesy is to speak for God, to tell people something of God. Second, it is to speak forth God, to speak something concerning God. Third, it is to predict, to foretell something that will happen.

The third meaning is a matter of prediction. Many Christians understand that the word prophesy means only to predict or prognosticate. But if we read 1 Corinthians 14, we will understand that the word prophesy in this chapter does not refer mainly to prognosticating, but to speaking Christ and speaking for Christ.

To prophesy in this chapter is simply to speak things concerning God and to speak for God, or we can say, to speak things concerning Christ and to speak for Christ. Then verse 3 continues saying: “But he who prophesies speaks to men for building up, exhortation, and consolation.”

This, without doubt, is not prediction, but a kind of speaking in the word of wisdom or the word of knowledge to build up, encourage, comfort, and console others.

Verse 4 says: “…but he who prophesies builds up the church.” To speak Christ and to speak for Christ builds up the church. Verses 23 to 26 say: “If, therefore, the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak in tongues, and uninstructed or unbelieving people enter, will they not say that you are mad? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or uninstructed person enters, he is convicted by all, he is judged by all; the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so, falling on his face, he will worship God, declaring that God is truly among you. What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a psalm, a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, and an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.”

Each one has something. You have a psalm. I have a teaching. He has a revelation. Another has a tongue. And the fifth has an interpretation. This is mutuality. A basketball team has five players. If one player holds the ball only for himself and never passes it, that is not mutuality but individuality. The principle is the same for the meetings.

We must practice mutuality. If during a meeting only one person speaks the whole time, everyone will leave with the impression that the meeting was poor. But if all speak mutually, the meeting will be greatly enriched.

The word tongue in verse 26 means a real language that can be interpreted. A tongue is a dialect that has a certain meaning that can be translated. In Acts 2:6 we can see that speaking in tongues was speaking a dialect. All the hearers were amazed at hearing another language: “How is it that we hear, each in our own language, the great things of God?” (Acts 2:11).

Chapters twelve and fourteen of 1 Corinthians are also portions in the New Testament that mention speaking in tongues. In this portion Paul says that if someone speaks in tongues in the meeting there must also be interpretation: “If anyone speaks in a tongue, let it be two, or at most three, and each in turn, and let one interpret. But if there is no interpreter, let him be silent in the church and speak to himself and to God.”

These verses show that any tongue spoken in a meeting must be a distinct dialect. Once I was invited to speak to a Pentecostal group. I stayed with them for many days.

While I was there, I observed an act of speaking in tongues and its interpretation; however, the interpretations were longer than the speaking in tongues. Even the pastor acknowledged it was not genuine.

Then I observed a person repeating the same speaking in tongues on three occasions, yet each interpretation was different. This kind of speaking in tongues is completely false.

When we speak of tongues, we refer to genuine languages; not just any sound produced by the tongue, but syllables that are meaningful and that can constitute a language. This is a genuine language. This is what the Bible reveals.

In 1 Corinthians 12, nine distinct things of the Spirit are mentioned. The first is the word of wisdom and the second is the word of knowledge, but the last two are speaking in tongues and the interpretation of tongues.

In 1 Corinthians 14:26, there are five things related to the meetings: first a psalm for speaking and singing, then a teaching for speaking, then a revelation for speaking.

These are the first three. Then the last two are a tongue and an interpretation. In Paul’s writings, tongues and their interpretations are at the end of all the lists, but current practice makes the end the head.

In the Pentecostal movement, they make tongues not only the head but almost everything. The most important thing in the Christian meeting is not speaking in tongues; it is the speaking of the word of wisdom, the speaking of the word of knowledge, the speaking of the teaching, and the speaking of a revelation that can reveal something, that can instruct people, and that can build up the saints and the church.

🌿 Enjoy more:

Hymn: Fullness of the Spirit – “The Baptism”

https://hinario.org/detail.php?id=338

Home meetings, week 3, Sunday, chapter 4

HOME MEETINGS

Chapter 4

THE WAY TO PRACTICE

THE HOME MEETINGS

WEEK 3 – SUNDAY

Bible Reading: 1 Cor. 12:1–3; Heb. 1:1–3;

Pray-reading: “And no one can say, Lord Jesus!, except in the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:3b)

THE WORSHIP OF THE LIVING

GOD PRODUCING SPEAKING

First Corinthians 12:1 says, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.” Paul was very wise, and he was a great teacher who possessed a deep and particular way.

When he referred to the spiritual gifts, he began in this manner. In our version the word gifts is in italics. This indicates that this word is not in the Greek text. Paul used the adjectival form of pneuma, spiritual. This expression has bothered all the translators, yet almost all agree to translate it as “gifts.”

Verse 2 continues: “You know that when you were Gentiles, you were led away to mute idols, however you were led.” Paul was saying: “When you were Gentiles you had a certain kind of service. You had a certain kind of worship, which was of the idols. All idols are mute.

This means that when you were Gentiles you did not worship a God who speaks. You worshipped idols that do not speak, the mute idols. Therefore, you became mute. But when you worship the living God who speaks, by this worship you will begin to speak.” Paul referred to this speaking when he used spiritual words in verse 1.

Although it is not incorrect to insert the word gifts in verse 1, we must study the reason why Paul wrote only “spiritual.” He was not speaking merely of spiritual gifts. When we touch or exercise the spiritual gifts, we touch a spiritual sphere; we touch the spiritual things, not merely the gifts.

We touch a situation that is completely pneumatic, a situation that is totally spiritual. Not only the gifts, but the situation, the environment, the atmosphere, the sphere, the details, and the content are spiritual. I believe that Paul used the word spiritual to indicate all these things.

Each time we touch or exercise the spiritual gifts, it brings with it a certain environment, situation, or atmosphere. The environment, the situation, the atmosphere, and even the people — everything must be spiritual. We must be spiritual persons in order to exercise spiritual gifts.

The environment must be spiritual, the atmosphere must be spiritual, the situation must be spiritual, what we speak must be spiritual, what is spoken must be spiritual, and even all our terms and expressions must be spiritual.

Verses 2 and 3 show this. When we were Gentiles, we worshipped the mute idols. Nothing was rooted in the spiritual sphere. There was no need for any spiritual environment, spiritual situation, spiritual atmosphere, spiritual person, spiritual words, spiritual components, or spiritual details. We needed nothing spiritual because there was no speaking.

Having been born into a Christian home, I do not believe I have gone to an idol temple more than ten times. In 1935, together with some co-workers, we stayed in a picturesque place for two weeks, resting and studying the Word.

While we were studying there, I visited the idol temples. At that time I saw that the worship of idols was completely mute. From that day I understood Paul’s word. In that kind of mute worship there is no need for anything spiritual.

But we Christians worship a living God who speaks all the time. Our worship to Him makes us speakers. Those mute worshippers did not have a Bible because their god is not the God who speaks.

But we have a thick volume of sixty-six books. There are many pages because our God is the God who speaks. Hebrews 1:1–3 says that our God speaks. He spoke in the Old Testament and now He speaks in the New Testament. He is the God who speaks, and we Christians also must speak.

If you are only mute worshippers, you do not appear to be Christians. You do not practice as Christians; you practice as mute worshippers, worshipping mute idols.

First Corinthians 12:2 and 3 say: “You know that when you were Gentiles, you were led away to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, Jesus is accursed; and no one can say, Lord Jesus!, except in the Holy Spirit.”

Apparently the composition of these two verses is not logical, but if you enter the spiritual sphere, you will see that Paul is more than logical. In verse 2 it is said that the worship of idols makes people mute. But when you come to God, God makes you speak. Then you speak, and the principle is that each time you say, “Lord Jesus,” you are in the Spirit.

Once and again I have seen some seeking Christians calling on the Lord: “Lord Jesus, I love You, but I feel empty, Lord. I must be filled with the Spirit.” Immediately after this person prayed, some come to them asking: “Have you received the Spirit?” Most answered: “No, I don’t feel it.”

What would you say? The reason they said no is that they did not feel they had received the Spirit. But after reading verse 3, what would you say? You have called: “Lord Jesus, I love You!” Have you received the Spirit? Yes! How do you know? “Because the Bible says so.” Do not say, “Because I feel it.” Tell them that feelings are like the weather. They come and go and fluctuate. They are like the air, the clouds, and the snow. They come and go. Do not trust your feelings. You must trust the Word.

“No one can say Lord Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” Can you say: “Lord Jesus”? Try to say it from the deepest part of your being. “Lord Jesus!” Have you received the Spirit? “Yes, I have received Him.” How do you know? “Because the Bible says so.” Where does it say it? In 1 Corinthians 12:3.

For the practice of the home meetings, we must learn to say “Lord Jesus.” Some brothers advised me: “The visitors, the new ones, are not accustomed to our way. When they enter and see someone say ‘Lord Jesus!’, this frightens them.” If everyone says “Lord Jesus” in the spirit, the visitors may not agree with what we are saying; nevertheless, after listening, something will have impressed them inwardly.

They may leave, but they will leave with a certain impression. If you do not say, “Lord Jesus,” but are courteous, cultured, pleasant, the visitors will not be frightened. They may stay, but they will remain with an impression that is completely meaningless. What they will say is: “Well, the home meeting is very courteous, very pleasant, and all those people are so cultured.”

It is better to have a meeting shouting: “Oh, Lord Jesus,” and to frighten people with an impression of something. They will say: “I don’t understand what that was, yet they had something there. That kind of speaking affected me.”

🌿 Enjoy more:

Hymn: Praise to the Lord – “His Name”

https://hinario.org/detail.php?id=1162

Home meetings, week 2, Saturday, chapter 4

HOME MEETINGS

Chapter 4

THE WAY TO PRACTICE THE

HOME MEETINGS

WEEK 2 – SATURDAY

Bible Reading: Acts 5:42; 1 Cor. 14:1, 3, 4b, 12,

19, 23-26

Pray-reading: “So also you, since you desire spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the building up of the church.” (1 Cor. 14:12)

In this message we will consider the way to practice the home meetings. The way to practice any meeting is, first, to have mutuality and, second, to have speaking. These two things are very useful and prevailing in the practice of any meeting.

MUTUALITY IN THE CHURCH MEETINGS

Because of the history of Christianity, almost all Christians today, including us, are not accustomed to having mutuality in their meetings. Generally, in Christian services we see that one or two people speak and the rest are simply listeners. This is in no way according to the biblical teaching.

In the New Testament there are two main categories of Christian meetings. The first is the ministry meeting—the meeting of the apostles, the meeting of any gifted person, such as Peter on the day of Pentecost. The meeting on the day of Pentecost was a meeting for ministry.

One cannot consider this type of meeting as a church meeting and in the church. On the other hand, when 1 Corinthians 14 speaks of the meeting, it refers to the meeting of the church and in the church. Verse 23 says, “If therefore the whole church comes together…” This is the meeting of the church in the church. When we speak of the home meetings, without any doubt, we refer to the meetings in the church and the meetings of the church.

The preaching or teaching in the ministry meeting does not have much mutuality nor much speaking to one another. But in 1 Corinthians 14, in the church meetings, there is the basic need—the basic factor—of mutuality.

1 Corinthians 14:23 says, “If therefore the whole church comes together…” Then in verse 26 it says that in this type of meeting, “each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation.”

This shows us that the meeting of the church and in the church depends on mutuality. There is always the sense of one toward another. We must be very clear that the home meetings certainly are not meetings of any ministry.

The home meetings are absolutely meetings of the church and in the church. They depend one hundred percent on mutuality. If there is no mutuality, there is no home meeting. To have a home meeting without mutuality causes the home meeting to lose its character; that home meeting would not be of the church.

It may be that it is a home meeting but only of a small ministry, where one person speaks and all the rest listen. There would be a speaker there with a small audience, but there would be no mutuality. First Corinthians 14 is the only chapter in Paul’s writings that teaches us something about the church meetings. In this chapter is the basic factor of mutuality.

SPEAKING IN THE CHURCH MEETINGS

The second necessary factor for the church meetings is speaking. If no one speaks, that kills the church meeting. The lack of speaking kills the church meeting. The church meeting depends on mutuality and speaking. The Scripture references for this message provide a basis for fellowship concerning such factors.

Acts 5:42 says, “And daily in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching [the good news] Jesus as the Christ.” This took place at the beginning of the church life, after the day of Pentecost.

After the thousands of new believers were saved, they met in the temple. The meeting in the temple was for the ministry, so that Peter and John could minister, speak, preach, and teach.

Verse 42 also refers to the fact that they met from house to house and in every house. What did they do there? They met to teach and to preach. No doubt they taught Christ, they taught the things concerning Christ. On the day of Pentecost, after Peter’s preaching, three thousand were saved, and right away they began to meet.

Surely they were not speaking about the Jewish religion. No doubt they were speaking about what they had heard in Peter’s one message. They taught and they preached. They preached Jesus Christ as the good news. In their meetings they did only two things—both included speaking. Teaching is speaking, and preaching is also speaking.

🌿 Enjoy more:

Hymn: Meetings – “Functioning”

https://hinario.org/detail.php?id=946

Home meetings, week 2, Friday, chapter 3

HOME MEETINGS

Chapter 3
THE WAY TO EQUIP OURSELVES FOR THE
HOME MEETINGS – 2

WEEK 2 – FRIDAY
Bible Reading: Eph. 3:8; 1 Thes. 5:17

Pray-reading: “And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and announcing the Good News: Jesus is the Christ.” (Acts 5:42 – Jerusalem Bible)

THE PRACTICAL WAY TO

EXPERIENCE CHRIST (2)

The reason why Christian meetings are very weak and poor is because most Christians do not have this kind of experience of Christ. Every seeking saint is a genuine believer with a thirsty spirit created by God. Only God, that is, the details of the riches of Christ, can satisfy us. This is the experience we must have of Christ. For when we go to the small meetings, we can all spontaneously say something and minister something that is Christ.

Recently I read the testimony of a prominent government official in Taiwan. When he was nearly forty, it seemed that he lacked nothing outwardly, but inwardly he lacked something concerning the real human life. At that time he and his wife visited many Christian meetings in Taipei, but it seemed to them that they received nothing.

One day they were brought by some brothers to the church meeting in Taipei. At their first visit they realized that the Spirit of God was there. From that day on, he was saved and began to attend the meetings. I gave you this testimony only to show you what we need in our meetings.

We must have in our spirit something to pray or sing or say that can satisfy the hunger of the true seekers. This hunger is not in our mind but in the depths of our being, that is, in our spirit which was created by God and which seeks God. For the home meetings we need the Christ that you and I have experienced.

How can the home meetings be strengthened, refreshing and renewed? How can they become very attractive, full of power and sustaining power? There is no other way but to experience Christ. Having only a list of all the details of the riches of Christ does not work. What really works is what you have experienced. I hope this has been made clear.

I hate to give you another doctrinal message. I hope you all take this message and pray: “Lord, minute by minute I want to live a life of praying to You all the time.” This is why Paul said, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thes. 5:17).

For years I did not understand what it meant to pray without ceasing. How could it be? Even though I had not received any knowledge, little by little I groped and found the solution. To pray without ceasing is simply to pray all day long in all things.

When I am writing, I pray: “Lord, be one with me in this writing. I am going to study a verse that is very deep. It is difficult for me to understand. Lord, be one with me. I am studying a Greek word that is very deep. I exhausted all the reference books and could not find the correct, adequate spiritual meaning. Lord, be one with me.”

While I am speaking, I have a praying spirit: “Lord, at this moment, be my eloquence. Be my instant eloquence, my all-day eloquence and my now-eloquence, my eloquence for certain people. Lord, be my sentences for the people I do not know.”

I often pray in this way. The Lord answers and honors this kind of prayer. Frequently some come to me and say, “Brother Lee, tonight just one sentence that came out of your mouth captivated me. It was exactly what I needed.” We must be those who are confirmed in the Anointed of God and are one spirit with Him. Then we will live such a daily life, and in all things we will experience Him in specific ways.

In certain situations, you may need humility, wisdom, forbearance, prudence or quickness. If you pray in the way I have described, you will experience Christ in certain details. In a certain environment you will experience Him as your forbearance. In others you will experience Him as your wisdom, your humility or your long-suffering.

With some who are weaker, you may experience Him as your pity, as your mercy, as your compassion. In all the different occasions, and in everything, you will be one with Him and realize that He is one with you.

PREACHING THE GOSPEL AS

THE GOOD NEWS

After this range of experiences we will go to the meetings with something of Christ. We will go to the meetings with the riches of Christ, not in our mind, but in our own being, for we have experienced and enjoyed Him.

If we go to the meeting with such riches, surely we will have something to share. This is why we must learn how to speak the phrases, the terminology and the expressions of the Bible. This is why we all must study the Bible. We may all have something to say, but if we do not have the proper expression, we will not have the adequate way to express Him.

For example, if I am in an English-speaking meeting, but I am not English, I may have something of Christ, but it may be impossible for me to express Him to you. Even if I have some knowledge of English, I also need the terminology, the expressions, the words, the phrases and the sentences of the Bible.

This is why we all need to read the Bible and valuable spiritual books. From such books we spontaneously acquire many things. Today in primary schools teachers teach children by means of reading. They must read, read and read. In the same way, we must have the experience and enjoyment of the riches of Christ as a deposit, a storehouse within us.

Then we must read the Bible, and this will enrich our storehouse. Also we must read some spiritual books such as the Life-studies to acquire not only knowledge but also the expressions and the terminology to express what we have enjoyed of Christ.

Then surely the home meetings will be rich. We will not be able to avoid them. We will have the riches and the eloquence that will help fill the spirit and strengthen the inner man. If we have these four details, we will be the factors that enrich, strengthen, refresh, and renew the home meetings.

Now we are equipped with four things: the filling of our spirit with the all-inclusive God; the strengthening in our inner man with the power of the Holy Spirit; the experience and enjoyment of the riches of Christ; and speaking.

We must understand that when we speak the experiences of the riches of Christ, our speaking is simply the preaching of Christ as the gospel. Everything we speak will be the gospel, the good news.

Acts 5:42 says: “they did not cease teaching and bringing the good news of Jesus as the Christ” [translation from the Spanish version]. In this verse, the Greek word translated “bringing the good news” is the same word translated as “preaching the gospel” (lit.).

In Ephesians 3:8 it is to preach the riches of Christ as the gospel; in Acts 5:42 it is Jesus Christ as the good news. This Greek word means something stronger than preach. Darby translated it as “announce.” Some other translations use the word “proclaim.”

The Greek word is preach, which indicates that we are announcing, proclaiming, preaching—we are speaking Christ and His riches as the gospel, as the good tidings, as the good news. The Concordant Literal Version translates this word as “bringing the evangel.” This means the good tidings, the good news.

To evangelize is to preach. That is, to evangelize with the riches of Christ. To evangelize means to preach, proclaim, announce something as the gospel.

Therefore, in all the home meetings, everything we speak must be the gospel, the good news to the hearers. Generally there is hunger to receive something in the home meetings. If someone speaks Christ, it will be good news to me.

If we go to the meetings and are full of the enjoyment of the riches of Christ, when we open our mouth, it will be the announcing of the riches of Christ as the good news to the participants. Surely this will enrich, strengthen, refresh, and renew our home meetings and make them attractive and full of power to keep and sustain all.

🌿 Enjoy more:

Hymn: Worship to the Father – “His Choice”

https://hinario.org/detail.php?id=46