Preparing the Right Kind of Reading Material in the Principle of Distributing Food according to the Proper Time

GENERAL SUBJECT:
PREPARING THE RIGHT KIND OF READING MATERIAL
IN THE PRINCIPLE OF DISTRIBUTING FOOD
ACCORDING TO THE PROPER TIME

Message One
Preparing the Right Kind of Reading Material
in the Principle of Distributing Food according to the Proper Time

I. In the Lord’s recovery, we have an abundance of the Lord’s speaking; we are very rich in truth; we have a rich spiritual heritage because we have the publications, the conferences, and the trainings.

II. The church is rich; we can enter into a new revival by arriving at the highest peak of the divine revelation through the ministry of the age; as Christians we need to be in the Lord’s ministry in this age.

III. The speaking of the seven annual “feasts”, which is of the ministry of the age, the unique flow of the Lord’s work.

A. These focus on vision and revelation.

B. The seven annual feasts are: Crystallization-study Training in Summer, Crystallization-study Training in Winter, Memorial Day Conference, Thanksgiving Conference, International Chinese-speaking Conference, International Training for Elders and Responsible Ones in Spring, and International Training for Elders and Responsible Ones in Fall.

IV. Publication work in the Lord’s recovery:

A. We only had one publication, everything was published through Brother Nee’s Gospel Room because the publication is really the trumpeting; the sounding of our trumpet is not just in the verbal message but more in the publication.

B. The need to publish the ongoing ministry still exists, and to this end Living Stream Ministry and Taiwan Gospel Book Room, a blended service overseen by a group of blending brothers who serve in coordination with the blended co-workers, continue to publish the Lord’s speaking among us in all the seven annual “feasts”.

C. “The one thing which should rule us is the divine fellowship…By being restricted in this fellowship, the Body of Christ is kept in oneness, and the work of the ministry continues to go on…If we learn to fellowship, we will receive many benefits, especially in the Lord’s work” (The Triune God to be Life to the Tripartite Man, pp. 147-148). (2002 ITERO-Fall, Msg. 9)

V. Other conference and training related to perfecting the saints and spiritual education are what we discuss here.

A. We should hold conferences on a periodic basis; that was a special meeting for gifted members to function for the perfecting of the saints.

B. The church conducts perfecting training for core members.

C. All kinds of educational courses: we must schedule all kinds of educational courses in the church meetings to teach the brothers and sisters so that they may be built up in the truth; then when they go out to contact people, everyone will function.

D. Having the Lord’s word as the center of the meetings; we hope that in every meeting some word from the Lord is released and ministered to the brothers and sisters.

1. The regular meetings of the church should be for the universal prophesying; every week the whole church should come together for everyone to prophesy.

2. Everyone must speak the word of God, or that everyone is able to speak the word of God; in summary, we might say that one who is saved, one who serves the Lord, has the qualification, the right, the ability, as well as the responsibility and burden to speak the word of God.

VI. We need to prepare the proper materials and to distribute food according to the proper time; I want us to see the absolute necessity of preparing the right kind of reading material for different meetings; this is in the principle of distributing food according to the proper time; the advancement of the various kinds of meetings hinges on this very matter:

A. You yourself must go look for rich ingredients message after message, pick up some good points, and put them together to make a living message, short; come together to pray and find a way to get one or more people charged to prepare messages that are brief, yet to the point, for each kind of meeting; the key is your cooking.

B. It is up to the elders, the helpers, and the co-workers in your locality; come together for a living word; this would not be a hard thing if you have the heart to do it because we have the cooking ingredients in all the messages of the ministry.

Message Two
Some Crucial Points to Consider in Preparing Outlines

I. Message outlines (reading messages are also the same) should take “the light comes”—the spiritual revelation and burden as the focus and the need of the audiences as the reference:

A. All should be derived from the one publication.

B. Regional conference (considering a proper proportion of revelation, experience, and practice).

C. Perfecting on truth and service, e.g. A pattern of the Healthy Words.

D. Perfecting for the new believers.

II. The coherence and the cohesion of the general subject, the title of every message, and every paragraph should be on the same train of thought:

A. Goal-oriented: whether the spiritual burden, goal and the focus can be expressed clearly.

B. The thought should be smooth (the logical sequence of the message title and the major points should be easy to understand and to be memorized).

C. Being concise (removing verbosity, redundancy, repetition, and colloquial term, etc.).

D. The first paragraph of the message outline should inspire people and whet their appetite for the message.

E. The word of the last paragraph, should arrive at the highest peak of the burden and intensity in order to encourage people to stand up to share and respond to it.

III. The sequence of the thought of the outlines:

A. Revelation (definition—the intrinsic essence), experience, and application.

B. Time sequence: creation, old creation, new creation, and New Jerusalem.

C. The sequence of the divine economy: incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.

D. The sequence of the divine dispensing; the sequence of the Triune God dispensing into the tripartite man.

E. Zooming in from big matters to small details.

IV. At the end of each outline, three “take away” points should be integrated, which the audiences are easy to absorb and apply.

V. The genre and format of the outline should be:

A. The burden and the goal of the outline can be expressed clearly and even highlighted by every major point.

B. The content length of every point in the outline should not exceed two lines.

C. The same specifications and uniformity; the need to completely follow the specifications of the template (page layout, line spacing, spacing, font and size) that the outline in uniformity can be produced.

D. The process and its accuracy:

1. First, preparing the Chinese outlines, then coupled with their sources to ensure its accuracy.

2. Second, preparing the English outlines, then couple with their sources to ensure its accuracy.

Message Three
Some References for the Procedure of Preparing Outline

I. Drafting a blueprint; writing down the keynote of the message, the spiritual burden needs to be expressed, and the situation of the audience:

A. Writing down the key points need to be expressed in the outline; e.g. Abraham: crossing the river / the altar and the tent / fighting for the brother / interceding for the new believers.

B. We need to review the blueprint repeatedly, like the function of eating the ginger slice regularly in Japanese cuisine.

C. Preparing outline should be from the easy to the difficult. Begin with the easiest topic, then advance to the more difficult topics, this will be more efficient.

II. Searching out proper paragraphs in accordance with the focus that must be expressed:

A. Sources: ministry publications of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee:

1. Books published by Taiwan Gospel Book Room and Living Stream Ministry.

2. The outlines of seven feasts of trainings and conferences.

3. Messages compiled from the above sources.

B. Using key words (or the known paragraphs) to search for the proper contents:

1. “Nouns”, “verbs”, e.g. The Body of Christ, New Jerusalem, dispensing, supply.

2. The paragraph that connects different topics, ex: God’s New Testament economy, God-ordained way, Home, etc.

C. Crucial points to be considered:

1. Whether there has both the Chinese and the English text.

2. Whether the intrinsic significances are identical, e.g. young people, teenager, adolescent.

3. The content of the word and phrase in the whole context.

4. Whether it is the most representative paragraph or not.

III. Making it in the form of outline to ensure the burden will be more highlighted by simplifying it or magnifying it:

A. Simplifying: removing the verbosity, redundancy, details, negative expressions, excessive verses or minor points.

B. Magnifying: making one crucial point richer and more abundant, e.g. messages of 2014 MDC were composed of the book—The Heavenly Vision and the high peak truth.

C. The need to have highlights, e.g. one chapter in the Bible that is the hardest to fulfill, meeting “around a table before a tomb”.

IV. Adding proper verses in the first revision; removing the redundancy in the second revision to make the length into one to two pages.

V. After completion, the outline needs to be printed out for the first proofreading, the second proofreading, and the third proofreading to ensure that all kinds of errors can be corrected.

 

Ministry Excerpts:

WE HAVING AN ABUNDANCE OF THE LORD’S SPEAKING

We thank the Lord that the situation in His recovery is altogether different from this. We have an abundance of the Lord’s speaking. Consider how much of the word of God has been released among us in the recovery during the past years. The reason there is so much of God’s speaking in the recovery is that here we have genuine oneness. We experience this oneness and the harmony in the Spirit not only when the churches come together for a conference, but also in the meetings of the various local churches. In the meetings we have the Lord’s speaking, and we are edified, nourished, and enlightened. When the peace of Christ arbitrates in us and keeps us in a situation full of oneness and harmony, we become the place of God’s speaking, His oracle. Deep in my spirit I realize that the meetings are an oracle, a place where God can come in to speak. (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 64)

NEEDING TO KNOW THE TRUTH SYSTEMATICALLY

Because truth is not only a matter of the truth itself but also a matter of life, it has two aspects. Truth is not only for our utterance; it is also for the opening of our mind. To others, truth is an expression of something passing through us, but to us, truth is an opening. If there were no truth, how could we know Christ? If there were no truth, how could our understanding be opened, therefore making it possible for us to experience Christ? Without the truth, how could we understand Christ as the mystery of God? Without the truth, how could we experience Christ as wisdom and power from God to us? Without the truth, we would have no way to know and experience Christ practically.

We all know that we are very rich in truth; however, the degree or level of our knowledge of the truth is not very high. In most people’s eyes we have a rich spiritual heritage because we have the publications, the conferences, and the trainings, all of which impart a great deal of knowledge to us. However, we have not helped the saints to learn the truth in a systematic way. We are always asking “famous speakers” to give “lectures” to the saints, but we have never set up a course of instruction and invited some teachers to teach the saints truth lessons in a systematic way. (Speaking for God, msg. 6)

CONCERNING FOLLOWING THE MINISTRY OF THE AGE

Seeing the Ministry of the Age

In the Old Testament, both Solomon and David represented the Lord. The two persons represented the one ministry in two separate ways. In the Old Testament, there were many ministries. After Moses, the judges were raised up. After that, there was Solomon, the kings, and the prophets. After the Israelites were taken into captivity, the vessels for the recovery were raised up. The Old Testament is filled with different kinds of ministries. In every age, there is the ministry of that age. These ministries of the ages are different from the local ministers. Luther was a minister of his age. Darby was also a minister of his age. In every age, the Lord has special things that He wants to accomplish. He has His own recoveries and His own works to do. The particular recovery and work that He is doing in one age is the ministry of that age.

Forsaking the Past Ministries

Jonathan stood between Saul and David. He was one man standing between two ministries. What he should have done was to follow the second ministry. However, because Jonathan’s relationship with the first ministry was too deep, he could not disentangle himself from it. In order to catch up with the ministry of the age, there is the need for us to see the vision. Michal was married to David, yet she did not see anything. She only saw David’s condition before God, and she could not tolerate it. As a result, she was left behind (2 Sam. 6:16, 20-23).

ALL BEING A MATTER OF GOD’S MERCY

It is God’s mercy that a person can see and come into contact with the ministry of that age. Yet, it is altogether a different thing for a man to take up the courage to forsake the past ministry. It is a precious thing to see, and it is a blessed thing to come into contact with something. Yet whether or not one can set aside his past ministry is entirely up to God’s mercy. (Messages Given During the Resumption of Watchman Nee’s Ministry, ch. 69)

AS CHRISTIAN, NEEDING TO BE
IN THE LORD’S MINISTRY IN THIS AGE

Now we have already seen clearly that the ministry spoken of in the Bible does not refer to a person, but to God’s building work. Moreover, in God’s building ministry, there are those who take the lead in that ministry in every age. May the Lord open our eyes to see that as long as we are human beings, we should be Christians; as long as we are Christians, we should enter into the Lord’s ministry in this age.

Today there are thousands of people who believe in the Lord Jesus and are saved, but not many have entered into the Lord’s ministry of building the church. It is just like the situation in Noah’s age. There were thousands of people on the earth, but only a small number were building the ark with Noah. This is why Philippians 2:12 says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” What Noah and those who built the ark with him were doing was to work out their own salvation. Yes, it was God who had saved them, but the ark that delivered them was built with their own hands by God’s grace. Today, we also need to be in God’s building ministry to work out our own salvation, that is, to bring our salvation to its ultimate conclusion so that we can be exalted by God in glory as the Lord Jesus was. (Words of Training for the New Way, vol. 1, msg. 2)

WE ONLY HAVING ONE PUBLICATION

When we were on mainland China, only Brother Nee had a publication, and the Gospel Room belonged solely and uniquely to him. He asked me to help in the publication work. I did write some books, among which were a book on the genealogy of Christ, a translation of part of Pember’s Earth’s Earliest Ages, and some books on the kingdom of the heavens. I never published anything by myself. I always mailed my manuscript to the Gospel Room, which was under Brother Nee and his helper. It was up to their discernment whether my manuscript should be published or not. I liked to have my writings checked as to whether there might be some inaccuracy in the truth. It is not a small matter to write a book that expounds the kingdom of the heavens. I liked my material to pass through their checking. This helped and protected me. Brother Yu, the eye specialist, translated some of the mystical books, but he did not publish anything. We only had one publication. Everything was published through Brother Nee’s Gospel Room because the publication is really the trumpeting. The sounding of our trumpet is not just in the verbal message but more in the publication. (Elders’ Training, Book 08: The Life-Pulse of the Lord’s Present Move, ch. 11)

THE SPEAKING AMONG US IN ALL THE SEVEN ANNUAL “FEASTS”
AND THE WEEKLY MINISTRY MEETINGS

Today, by the Lord’s mercy, the ministry continues. Now it is carried out by fellow slaves who serve in a blended way according to Brother Lee’s realization and fellowship shortly before he went to be with the Lord. He called this “the Lord’s sovereign provision for His Body, and the up-to-date way to fulfill His ministry” (A Letter of Fellowship with Thanks, March 24, 1997). It is important to note that Brother Lee spoke directly about the continuation of the ministry among us. He felt that after his departure the ministry should be carried out by a group of co-workers who are blended, just as his own service in the ministry was under his coordination with the co-workers. Further, the need to publish the ongoing ministry still exists, and to this end Living Stream Ministry and Taiwan Gospel Book Room, a blended service overseen by a group of blended brothers who serve in coordination with the blended co-workers, continue to publish the Lord’s speaking among us in all the seven annual “feasts” and the weekly ministry meetings. (Publication Work in the Lord’s Recovery)

THE NEED OF SPECIAL MEETINGS FOR SUCH GIFTED MEMBERS

Now the Lord has given us the new light that we have to practice the universal prophesying because Paul says we can all prophesy one by one (1 Cor. 14:31). This indicates that we all have the capacity to prophesy. Paul says in verses 23 and 24 that when “the whole church comes together in one place…if all prophesy….” This means we have the obligation to prophesy.

We may ask, “If everyone speaks, what will those who have been speaking to us for years do?” Thank the Lord that He has given the churches some real speaking brothers. We may consider these brothers as prophets, who have been prophesying in the churches for years. According to the New Testament, the prophets who are the gifts in Ephesians 4:11 speak for God, but they do not speak as those who carry out the regular meetings of the church by themselves. The regular meetings of the church should be for the universal prophesying. Every week the whole church should come together for all of the attendants to prophesy. All the churches, however, still need the prophets who are the particular gifts to the Body. Paul was such a prophet. There must be special meetings for such gifted members to do their work. Paul had a special meeting at Troas, recorded in Acts 20. He stayed at Troas for one week and spoke on the Lord’s Day for the whole night. That was a special meeting for a gifted person such as the Apostle Paul to function for the perfecting of the saints. We cannot make the regular meetings of the church like this. Otherwise, we would “kill” all the attendants. We need to see, however, that there is much need of the proper, able, capable, and experienced prophets among us.

Because of the Lord’s rich mercy, we may have a number of gifted evangelists among us, and they can be used to reap the new ones. All of the saints should personally visit others for the preaching of the gospel, but in this kind of visiting it is hard to give others a longer speaking on a particular gospel subject. A big gospel meeting can fulfill this function. There could even be an entire weekend of big gospel meetings for the purpose of reaping the new contacts of the saints. All the saints could bring the ones whom they have contacted for the past month. If many bring one or two new ones, the meeting hall will be filled with them. All of these new ones will have been prepared by the Lord. They will have already called on the name of the Lord. One of the brothers may give a message concerning what the Christian faith is. All the new ones will like to hear this. Now that they have called on the name of Christ, they will want to know what the Christian faith is. Not every believer can give such a long message on a certain topic of the gospel, but every believer can visit people to bring them to Christ.

In a big gospel meeting, a brother may decide to share on the existence of God. Although the new ones have believed and called on the name of the Lord Jesus, they may wonder how we can prove that God exists. Not many saints can give a message on this subject, so there is the need of a big meeting with a particular gifted person who can give three messages to show people the existence of God. These messages will be convincing, subduing, and enlightening. After hearing this, all the newly contacted ones will be established and happy.

We should have meetings like this regularly. It is not too much to have these meetings once a month. Because the church is rich, hundreds of the saints should go out daily as priests to do a daily work, to live their daily life in preaching the gospel of God. The other side is that we need some gifted evangelists to preach the truth of the gospel. An evangelist may decide to speak concerning the matter of sin. The new ones may have called on the name of the Lord with the saints who visited them. They may have confessed that they are sinful, but deep within them they are not clear about what sin is. We can have a conference of four messages to release a deeper teaching concerning the matter of sin. This convinces, establishes, strengthens, and keeps people. We should have meetings like this to show the riches of the church.

The same principle holds true with the matter of prophesying. The regular church meetings must be occupied and used by all the saints for them to discover their capacity, to develop their ability, and to build up and foster their energy to speak for the Lord. In this way opportunities will be given to all the saints. Whatever the saints have and can do will come to the surface. Then their gifts will be manifested, and they will become useful in the church life. This does not mean, however, that we annul or stop the particular gifts of the prophets. We should hold conferences on a periodic basis, perhaps once a month or once every three months. Furthermore, these gifted persons have to travel from city to city to prophesy. This is the right way. (The Advance of the Lord’s Recovery Today, ch. 10)

PERIODIC CONFERENCES

In the Lord’s new move in the churches, we need the home meetings, the truth lessons, the Lord’s table, the prayer meeting, and we also need big meetings periodically to gather all the new ones together. We need periodic conferences with all the new converts. For the new ones just to meet in homes to receive nourishment and to learn the truth in the group meetings will not be fully adequate to make them so living and equipped to bear more burden for the Lord. For the long run, they also need to be gathered together for a conference with all of the saints. This kind of gathering stirs up and encourages the saints. This opens the eyes of the seeking ones to see something further. Otherwise, they will remain in their homes, and they will not receive a broader view of the Lord’s move. (Elders’ Training, Book 09: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way (1), ch. 1)

PERFECTING TRAINING FOR CORE MEMBERS

A change in system is always difficult. At first we may think that every small group must have some so-called “core members” to bear the responsibility. However, if this is our thought, the small group will collapse once these “core members” are not doing well. On the other hand, if all the saints are willing to bear the responsibility, everyone will be a core member. When we divide the group, making the number smaller, each group will be strong and propagating, even if it is weak temporarily.

To bring up the matter of “core members” shows that this religious concept is still in our blood. We cannot give our flesh any opportunity. Once we give a little ground to our flesh, religion will immediately come forth. Whoever thinks that only a few saints are “core members” is religious. If the church has a “perfecting training for core members,” who would be the candidates? Every saint would be a candidate! We all are core members.

I truly hope that there will be a small group meeting in every saint’s home. If we would do this, there will be a great revival of the church, and Taiwan will be gospelized. (Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 1: The Vision and Definite Steps for the Practice of the New Way, msg. 5)

ALL KINDS OF EDUCATIONAL COURSES

The problem today is that our knowledge of the truth is not sufficient and that we do not know how to introduce the truth to people. People who have been to Hong Kong know that the merchants selling precious stones there bring out their expensive jewelry to show to the customer, and when the customer’s heart is touched, he naturally pays a high price to buy it. We Christians often are very foolish because we do not know how to bring out the treasures in the Bible to show to people. We have plenty of treasures at home, but we do not know how to bring them out. This is due to our lack in our daily pursuing and being equipped.

For this reason we definitely have to schedule all kinds of educational courses in the church meetings to teach the brothers and sisters so that they may be built up in the truth. Then when they go out to contact people, everyone will have his function. For a country to be strong, it must provide widespread education, and its citizens must be highly educated. In this way the country will naturally be strong. If we have education as a base, it will not be difficult to do anything. We are for the testimony of the Lord, but if we are not strong in the truth, then without that base, whatever we speak to others will be in vain. Conversely, if we have been equipped with the truth, then whatever we speak will benefit others. (Speaking for God, msg. 7)

NEEDING TO KNOW THE TRUTH SYSTEMATICALLY

Because truth is not only a matter of the truth itself but also a matter of life, it has two aspects. Truth is not only for our utterance; it is also for the opening of our mind. To others, truth is an expression of something passing through us, but to us, truth is an opening. If there were no truth, how could we know Christ? If there were no truth, how could our understanding be opened, therefore making it possible for us to experience Christ? Without the truth, how could we understand Christ as the mystery of God? Without the truth, how could we experience Christ as wisdom and power from God to us? Without the truth, we would have no way to know and experience Christ practically.

We all know that we are very rich in truth; however, the degree or level of our knowledge of the truth is not very high. In most people’s eyes we have a rich spiritual heritage because we have the publications, the conferences, and the trainings, all of which impart a great deal of knowledge to us. However, we have not helped the saints to learn the truth in a systematic way. We are always asking “famous speakers” to give “lectures” to the saints, but we have never set up a course of instruction and invited some teachers to teach the saints truth lessons in a systematic way.

Consider today’s educational system as an example. When a child reaches the age of four or five, he goes to kindergarten to learn some basic knowledge so that he may formally go to the regular school. When he is six years old, he begins to learn the lessons in the first grade, then second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, and sixth grade, until he graduates from elementary school. Then he can take courses in junior high school. If there were no such system of going to classes but only lectures given by famous guest speakers, then after listening for eight, nine, or even ten years, the children would not even be able to pass the entrance exam to middle school because they would not have the specific, orderly, and thorough knowledge of the contents of what they heard. (Speaking for God, msg. 6)

THE NEED OF AN EDUCATION OF TRUTH ON VARIOUS LEVELS

If we want everyone to function by preaching the truth for this kind of multiplication, then we must provide them an education on various levels. Only in this way can we raise up those who can preach the truth. Then in the Lord’s Day morning meetings there will be no fear of having no one to give a message for the ministry of the word. If the elders take the lead to preach the Lord’s word, then the saints will have a pattern to follow. When the saints see such a pattern, they will also go out to speak to others. Once this kind of atmosphere is started, the result will be that all the saints will be able to preach the Lord’s word to those who are outside the church. Whether by proclaiming Christ, by expounding the Holy Scriptures, or by releasing the truth, after three to five years, their preaching will be able to cover all the districts in their locality. This is the Lord’s way.

What we have fellowshipped should not be made into rules and regulations to be observed accordingly one by one. What we hope is that you would all bring this fellowship back with you for study and that you would pray much. If someone, after his study and prayer, can find a better way before the Lord, that would be wonderful. In principle, we need to help the saints by every means so that they all can understand the truth. God desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth. Not only so, we also need to help the saints so that they all could go forth and be prophets speaking for the Lord. (Speaking for God, msg. 6)

In teaching, we should help the saints to focus on the main points. Take John 3:16 as an example. It says that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. We need to learn to bring out the word gave; that is a main point. Lead the saints to emphasize the word gave. Repeat that word. Learn to point out the main points. We do not need to spend much time to explain them. The saints will realize by our hints what the main points are. We must see that our exposition does not carry much weight. The most effective way is to bring out the Lord’s word and have everyone pray-read it, directing everyone to the main points. In this way, we will provide everyone with the opportunity to function. No one will stand idle. In order to achieve this, we need to continually lead the brothers and sisters to practice this in the meetings. I believe that in fewer than six months the church in Taipei will produce a model for others to follow.  (Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 1: The Vision and Definite Steps for the Practice of the New Way, msg. 11)

HAVING THE LORD’S WORD AS THE CENTER OF THE MEETINGS

Besides these things, the most important thing is to read the Lord’s word every day. Through this we enjoy Him and keep His word. We also need to break bread to remember Him on the day of His resurrection. This renders Him the true remembrance and affords us the solid feeding. In addition, every week we should gather together to pray. Through such prayer we cooperate with God’s move. These two kinds of meetings can be carried out in the districts, in the small groups, or when the whole church comes together. The first Lord’s Day of every month, all the saints in a particular hall should gather together for the Lord’s table meeting. For the other Lord’s Days they can meet in districts. The same principle applies to the prayer meetings.

In all our meetings we should emphasize the Lord’s Word. During the bread-breaking meeting we can choose some practical, concise, and meaty portions for everyone to pray-read and enjoy. We can then share and testify concerning these portions. This will satisfy the Lord and minister to our needs. For the prayer meeting we can choose some messages on service that open up the basic spiritual principles of service. In the home meetings there should be some short messages for edification besides the fellowship, prayer, hymns, and greetings. This will help to raise up the new believers. We do not like to see people come to our meetings without learning something of God’s Word or without God’s Word being ministered to them. We hope that in every meeting some word from the Lord is released and ministered to the brothers and sisters. If we nourish the saints with these three kinds of messages in the bread-breaking meetings, the prayer meetings, and the home meetings, and if we teach Truth Lessons in a systematic, solid, and educational way, the saints will be helped and perfected. (Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 1: The Vision and Definite Steps for the Practice of the New Way, msg. 17)

GOING TO THE RICH GROCERIES TO MAKE A LIVING MESSAGE,
SHORT, BRIEF, YET TO THE POINT;
THE KEY BEING YOUR COOKING.

It is up to the elders, the helpers, and the co-workers in your locality. Come together to pray and find a way to get one or more persons charged to prepare messages, a living word for each kind of meeting. This would not be a hard thing if you have the heart to do it because we have the groceries in all the messages of the ministry.

However, you cannot simply pull out a message and apply it to a meeting. This does not work. The shoes will not fit the feet. You need to work, to labor. The messages are only the groceries. You cannot put groceries on the dining table for people to eat. You need to do the cooking. I have given you the crucial points of the fourteen Epistles of Paul. In every local church there must be at least one or two brothers to cook these points with some points from other messages as well. Then you may put out a message of two to four pages to use in the home meetings. Before the home meetings, you must train all the saints how to use these pages in a living way, not to read them, explain them, lecture on them, or give a sermon on them, but to speak them.

To invite someone to bring a meal to you is to rely upon fortune. It depends upon what he will bring. He may bring barbeque, yet one side may be raw. You yourself must go to the rich groceries, message after message, pick up some good points, and put them together to make a living message, short, brief, yet to the point. You must also train all the attendants to have the ability to use the message. This will be living, this will be enriching, and this will be very attractive. The key is your cooking. This is implied in Paul’s word to Timothy, “Let the elders who take the lead well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in word and teaching” (1 Tim. 5:17).

In 2 Timothy 2:2 Paul says, “And the things which you have heard from me through many witnesses, these commit to faithful men, who will be competent to teach others also.” In those ancient times Timothy may have kept a written record of Paul’s speaking. To write down what he heard and learned of Paul and to pass it on to others was his cooking. What I am teaching here, I have considered very much, and it is according to the holy Word. I would not speak this if it had no ground in the Word.

In 2 Timothy 2:15 Paul said, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman, cutting straight the word of the truth.” To cut straight the word of the truth is the cooking. You as an unashamed workman have to cut the word straight as in carpentry. When you pass on the word to others, you should not simply present the word as a whole. You have to cut it, that is, to cook it. If you expect to have a living church in your locality with these prevailing home meetings, it is crucial for you to prepare a living message every week, which will be very applicable, useful, and prevailing. Do not merely pick up a Life-study Message and use the first paragraph on the page. That will not work. You cannot simply buy groceries and place them unprepared on the table. You need the cooking. This must be your labor as elders. Otherwise, you had better all resign and give place to others to let them come in to try. Do not remain there to delay the Lord. See whether others could do it, even if you have to use the young people. I have been considering to bring the young people into this work and let them try. If the first generation could not do it, let the second generation do it. Even my grandchildren could do many things much better than I can. There is such a need to have the prevailing home meetings, but the key, the crucial point, is the preparation of a living message.

In a city in which you have more than twenty homes, it would be hard to find twenty capable speakers to attend all the home meetings to give a living message. It would be impossible to work out. But thank the Lord, because we have so many rich groceries it is easy to cook a meal and distribute this meal to every home. If your church is small and very close to another one, two or three churches could work together to prepare the same living message which will be good for all of you. I would not prepare such messages for all the churches and charge the churches to read the same message. Each of the many churches in this country needs a different kind of spiritual help each Lord’s Day. Different churches on different Lord’s Days need a different supply. You cannot serve the same kind of meal to everyone in a hospital. To those with stomach trouble you need to serve a certain kind of meal. For those with heart problems you need another kind of meal. You must have different meals to feed different people. Only you as the elders in your locality know what kind of meals your family needs. No one else knows your family’s need. I considered this quite much. This must be done by each respective local church. The family cooking must be done by the family, each one respectively. Although in principle all the local churches should be the same, in this aspect all the churches could not be the same.

You must not simply have two weeks of training and immediately begin to practice the home meetings. You must prepare a living, applicable, and very attractive message. You need much prayer, much investigation, and much study in all the messages. The good cooks study their groceries very much. They study which vinegar to use. Different vinegars make different tastes. Cooking is not so easy. You are serving the church as elders. I have no intention to rebuke you, to control you, or to command you. Rather, I am serving you all as an old father serves his family. You should do the same thing to serve the saints.

For a mother to serve the family by cooking is not an easy thing. My wife serves me every day. She has to decide every day what she should serve, what will be nutritious and easy to digest. The elders must pick up this responsibility. Otherwise, you should not expect to have a living church in your locality; it would be impossible. First Timothy 3:1 says, “If anyone aspires to oversight, he desires a good work.” I encourage you all to aspire, but I condemn any kind of ambition without the sense of responsibility.

You must prepare a good message for the general meeting. To merely charge one person to do it would not be adequate. It is too heavy for one to bear. The best way is for all the elders, the helpers, and the co-workers to work together to prepare a living message and charge a particular one to deliver this message in a living way. The way to deliver or present the message should be discussed and fellowshipped among those who prepare it. Be assured you will have a good message. This will edify you as the elders, the helpers, and the co-workers.

You need to prepare a message for the end of the Lord’s table to nourish the attendants. They will not receive much if they only take the bread, drink the wine, and have some spiritual prayers. You need to feed them something solid with a living message. Simply take half an hour and leave some time for them to share. Without such a solid message there will only be the sharing of the saints. They will tire of doing this week after week. Every Lord’s Day at the end of the table we need something solid to feed the attendants. This will attract them to come back. It is the same with the prayer meeting. (Elders’ Training, Book 08: The Life-Pulse of the Lord’s Present Move, ch. 4)

PREPARING THE PROPER MATERIALS

Once we gain some new ones, we need to study to find the way to take care of them. I have been considering what materials would be the best to use in the group meetings to teach people. We have both Life Lessons and Truth Lessons. Although these lessons are very well written, I feel that they are not so suitable, because they may be too much for the new ones to digest. Even The Holy Word for Morning Revival may not be suitable for the new ones in the group meetings. It is not good to feed people too much food; we need to give them the proper portions. In Hebrews 5:12-14 Paul mentioned two kinds of food: milk and solid food. We should not attempt to nourish a child with solid food. Hence, we need someone to labor in order to write some suitable materials for the group meetings that will nourish the new ones with milk. In order to have the profitable teaching and fellowship in the group meetings, some materials that can serve as a guideline are needed. I hope that some of the brothers will be raised up by the Lord to compose some proper writings for the group meetings.

CARRYING OUT THE TEACHING OF THE TRUTH
IN THE GROUP MEETINGS

Another problem is how to carry out the teaching of the truth in the group meetings. We need to find a way to carry out the teaching year after year for those who continue in the group meetings, and at the same time take care of the new ones who are saved and brought into the groups month after month. It is not adequate to prepare lessons for just one year and then repeat them year after year. After a group finishes a series of lessons, they will need a way to continue. In addition, new ones will be brought in continually. We will need a way to teach them also. The matter of human education has been studied by mankind for six thousand years. Today nearly the entire world has adopted the same kind of educational system. However, the way of human education cannot be applied directly to the church life. Therefore, we need to study to find a proper way to teach the truth in the group meetings.

The human life is not merely one generation; it is generation after generation. Eventually, in the group meetings we will have different generations meeting together. Each generation must be properly cared for. This problem may not appear in the first generation of the group meetings, but eventually another generation will come up, and we will have to face this situation of how to care for the group meetings with the different generations. (Fellowship concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, msg. 4)

DISTRIBUTING FOOD ACCORDING TO THE PROPER TIME

The co-workers and the elders…must carefully select the proper material for the home meetings. We need to spend an adequate amount of time to pray thoroughly, to observe the condition of the brothers and sisters, and to understand the need of all the homes and the groups. We need to know their conditions, and then we should search out the suitable material from our publications. A mother, in preparing a meal for the family, should consider the condition of all the members of the family. Sometimes one member of the family is sick, and she needs to prepare special food for that one. Sometimes the season changes, and she needs to shop for the proper kind of food. All this takes research as well as common knowledge.

Matthew 24:45 says that the faithful and prudent slave distributes food to God’s children at the proper time. The meaning of distributing food to God’s children at the proper time is profound. It does not mean merely to distribute food according to the seasons but to distribute different kinds of food according to the varying needs. This is something that requires time and research. Suppose we meet a new one, and without any regard for his condition we begin to share with him about the seventy weeks in Daniel. It is true that we are speaking God’s word, but that kind of “distributing of food” does not nourish him. Instead, it kills him. God’s word is life, but if we do not use it in a proper way, it becomes a killing factor to others. It can spoil a person’s appetite; the taste to come to the meeting will be spoiled because what he has heard has not benefited him.

I may have exaggerated a little, but I want us to see the absolute necessity of preparing the right kind of reading material for different meetings. This is in the principle of distributing food according to the proper time. The advancement of the various kinds of meetings hinges on this very matter. Whether or not a meeting brings profit to a person, attracts him, or stirs up the desire within him to join depends fully on this matter. (Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 1: The Vision and Definite Steps for the Practice of the New Way, msg. 11)