THE PRACTICE HANDBOOK FOR THE DISTRICT SERVING ONES
SERIES THREE
PRACTICAL SERVICES
Message Eight
The Book Service
Col. 3:16 a Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.
1 Tim. 2:4 Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.
THE PUBLICATIONS BEING MORE VALUABLE THAN
ANY OTHER METHOD OF MINISTRY
The products of the publication work are solid and reliable. Publications are different from spoken messages because back and refer to a printed message. People who hear a people message often cannot accurately repeat what they have heard. Therefore, publications must be precise, and the words used in publications must be more accurate than those used in the spoken ministry. When a person is giving a message, there is no way to carefully consider every point; hence, he may not always use words accurately. After a message is transcribed, it must be revised and polished to make it stronger, more succinct, and more accurate. When we published Watchman Nee’s messages, we edited and polished them. Through this work the messages became richer and quite accurate. Thus, in spiritual function the publications are more valuable than any other method of ministry. If we see, understand, and are clear concerning this point, we will treasure, love, and honor the portion that we have in carrying out the publication work. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 5, “The Faithful and Diligent Spreading of the Truth—concerning the Publication Service,” msg. 7)
The Effect of the Publications Being Very Great
The publication work under my ministry began in August 1949. At that time the twelve members of my family lived in a small house of about three hundred square feet. The study, bedroom, and living room were all one room. In the house there was only one chair and one small table. It was under these conditions that I completed the sixty topics in Crucial Truths in the Holy Scriptures. Thank the Lord for blessing the publication work of this ministry and for bringing it to the scale that it has reached today.
In 1962, because I was clear that I should begin the work of the Lord’s recovery in the United States and release the truth to God’s children there, I moved to the United States. Over the past twenty-five years about three hundred local churches have been raised up overseas due to this ministry, and about eighty percent of them have been raised up through the publications. My co-workers and I did not go to all those places; most of the churches in those places were raised up entirely as a result of the publications going there first. This shows that the effect of the publications can be very great. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 5, “The Faithful and Diligent Spreading of the Truth—concerning the Publication Service,” msg. 3)
Man Needing to Live on the Word of God
The Word of God is our spiritual life supply. Matthew 4:4 says, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God.” This is a quotation of Deuteronomy 8:3. God’s words are more important than food. A man who lives only on physical food, not on God’s word, will not fulfill God’s desire. It is not enough for a person to live on food; he must also live on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God. A proper person cannot live only on physical food; he must also feed on God’s word. There is a great difference between those who feed on God’s word and those who do not. Most people care for eating only the physical food. They neglect God’s word because they do not know that God’s word is the food that man needs. The Lord Jesus’ words in Matthew 4:4 show that God’s word is bread, our food.
Eating and Being Filled with the Word, We Would Be Strengthened Within
I can testify that when I am heavily burdened with problems or troubling matters and I eat God’s word, the heavy burdens are lightened, the problems disappear, and I am comforted. It is often not enough for us to merely pray when we face problems; we must also eat God’s word. If we would spend half an hour or more to eat and be filled with the word, we would be strengthened within, and our problems would be resolved. May we learn to eat the word. God is embodied in the word. When we eat Him, He will supply our needs. We should always remember that man cannot live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God. (CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 3, “How God Becomes Man’s Enjoyment,” msg. 4)
Being What We Eat, and Living by What We Eat
Matthew 4:4 says, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God.” Jeremiah 15:16 says, “Your words were found and I ate them.” We need to eat the word in the Bible by praying over what we read. Pray-reading is a matter of using our spirit to pray over the word so that it will come into us as spirit and life to be our spiritual food. According to our experience, the way to eat the Lord is to call on His name and pray-read His Word. When we practice this, we will receive Christ as our spiritual nourishment. Eventually, Christ will become our constituting element. We are what we eat, and we live by what we eat. (CWWL, 1971, vol. 4, “The Central Revelation in the Bible,” ch. 2)
THE BURDEN AND GOAL OF THE BOOK SERVICE
The most important burden of the book service is not to care for the inventory of books but to study and find a way to spread every book into all the homes of the saints in your locality and, once the books are in the homes, to find a way to deposit their contents into the saints’ hearts. The book service is a very important service in the churches, and it has an especially important relationship to the alders, In order to carry out the book service in a proper way, our view and understanding must be clear, and we must encourage the saints in the localities where we serve to cultivate the habit of studying the truth. We also must have a proper heart and attitude in our way of doing business. We are not selling books like street vendors. Rather, we are urging the believers in the Lord’s recovery to have the books that we have published in their homes, and we are encouraging them to do their best to read these books.
Our Goal Being to Spread the Divine Truths
In principle, the book service is the same. Regardless of whether we are full-timers going out to work or those who serve with books, our goal is to spread the divine truths for the accomplishment of God’s goal of establishing and building up churches in every place so that they may become the expression of Christ.
I would like to make something clear from the start. If we think that the goal of the publication work is to make money, we are wrong. From the first day until now we have not had the slightest thought of making money or earning a profit. Our burden is to spread the truth and to serve the churches.
We all know that it is not easy to understand the Bible. However, through the Life-study messages and the publications in the Lord’s recovery, we can understand the central thought of every book in the Bible, and we can be clear about the true meaning of every chapter and verse. In order to deliver these truths into the hands of God’s children, we need full-timers to go out to visit people and to supply them, and we need the serving ones in all the localities to faithfully labor in the book service in the churches to diligently distribute the food to the saints.
Beginning with Luther the Lord has manifested His work of recovery. However, over the done as much related to the recovery of the truth as He has done today among us. This has been especially true since 1974, because the Lord has opened up every book in the Bible through the Life-studies and various messages, pointing out the crucial items concerning Christ, opening the minds of the saints, and bringing us into the depths of God’s economy so that we would advance toward His ultimate goal.
RECEIVING THE BURDEN TO LEARN AND SPREAD THE DIVINE TRUTHS
For the past five hundred years the strongest recovery of the Lord’s truth has been among us. Today the books that we publish are rich and full of truth and revelation. The Life-studies of the New Testament alone contain more than eleven hundred messages with an average of ten pages per message. The Lord has been constantly recovering His truths throughout the ages, but before today the truth concerning the New Jerusalem was barely touched. The New Jerusalem was not expounded thoroughly and clearly until we were raised up.
More than fifty years ago Brother Nee said to me, “Brother Witness, the truths that the Lord has given us are not only for the Chinese-speaking believers; I believe that they are for the whole world.” At that time neither of us knew how the Lord was going to spread His truth to the whole globe, but the Lord raised up the environment. When the political situation in China changed, the Lord brought me to Taiwan. After ten years of developing and establishing a foundation, the Lord brought me to the United States. After another ten years the Lord spread His recovery to all the other continents through the publications. Although the number of saints meeting in the local churches is still insufficient, the churches themselves have been widely spread. The Lord has given us an open from this point forward, and every continent has people who receive our truths and welcome the saints to visit them. Even Burma and India have begun to have meetings.
Through the labor of Brother Nee and myself, the truths of Bible have been dug out. Beginning in 1974 I spent at least half of each year to write the outlines for the Life-study messages and the del The Book Service and the Spreading of the Truth 205 footnotes of the Recovery Version. I wrote every word with much care and effort, particularly the footnotes. I did not use my native Chinese for writing; rather, I used English. Anyone with a seeking heart cannot deny that the truth is among us. I hope that we would receive the burden to thoroughly study the truths of the Lord’s recovery and to spread these truths.
GETTING THE TRUTHS INTO THE BELIEVERS’ HOMES
What the Lord wants to accomplish in this age is to recover the truth. Today the entire earth is in a famine; there is even a famine across the United States, which is a great Christian country. It is like the situation in the days of Joseph, when only Egypt had food, and all the other places were in famine. At that time if a person wanted food, he had to go to Egypt to buy it. Today there is not much rich nth in the publications of Christianity; their better publications present only a few shallow gospel truths. However, when you look at the publications among us, they are full of rich truth. This is not my boast; it is a proof that the Lord has blessed us. Therefore, we should receive the burden and not worry that there are too many books piled up in the meeting halls; instead, we must find a way to distribute these books, and we must first get them into the homes of the saints.
Paul says that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). Today nearly two thousand years have passed since this was written, but even in the Lord’s recovery we have not arrived at this standard. This is why we have changed our way and are pushing to have everyone prophesy and speak the truth. However, if we want to arrive at this goal, the first requirement is that we must teach the saints the truth. If we do not, the saints will still prefer big meetings with one person speaking and everyone else listening. For the past thirty years we have maintained this practice. In conferences we have spoken about items of the truth such as the cross, the resurrection life, and the Body of Christ, but as time has passed, not many among us have really understood the truth. This pains my heart.
Leading the Saints to Become Addicted to Reading the Truth
Today the Lord has gained saints who have a heart to serve Him; some serve as elders, some serve as deacons, and some serve in book sales. We thank the Lord for this, but please forgive me for speaking Today the Lord has gained saints who have a heart to serve honestly to you in love: I am afraid that even you are not clear about the truth. This is the matter that concerns me the most. If we are a group of believers who have only been saved but who do not understand the truth, what will be the future of the Lord’s recovery? The present teaching in the homes is insufficient; we must get the truth into the saints’ homes. I hope that in every church each household would teach the truth and study the truth. The churches in one particular area of the United States are the best pattern in this matter; the homes of the saints there are full of our publications. Whether you go to the study, the bathroom, the living room, the bedroom, the dining room, or even the kitchen, you will find open ministry books. Wherever anyone goes in these homes, they can seize the time to read a paragraph of a message. In this way they are nourished. Today in Taiwan we have not arrived at this point, saints who complain that we have too many books and too many meetings. They say that they are too busy to read the books. In regard to this, I cannot say anything. Everything, however, depends upon our heart. If we realized that we could obtain “gold and diamonds” time we read the truth, we would read more, and if we could receive some treasures whenever we read the ministry, we would even sleep less in order to obtain the treasure.
My point is that we do not consider the truth to be precious. As leading brothers in the churches in Taiwan, we should imitate the pattern of the elders in the churches in the previously mentioned area of the United States and lead the saints to become addicted to reading the truth. We should consider reading the truth to be more important than eating or drinking. If we do this, the truth in the Lord’s recovery will greatly increase and be victorious; furthermore, the number of people in all the churches will spontaneously multiply (Acts 6:7). (CWWL, 1984, vol. 5, “The Faithful and Diligent Spreading of the Truth—concerning the Publication Service,” msg. 3)
Although we value the Life-studies and use them to progress in our knowledge of the truth, we are still, generally speaking, a long way behind. We cannot say that we are from an “educated family.” In the small group meetings and the bread-breaking meetings, it is not easy to hear the truth, and a “scholarly flavor” is mostly absent. In an educated family the members are nurtured and edified by books to the extent that their speaking contains the scent of books. Only such a group of people will be considered as being from an educated family. If we are soaked in the Life-studies and speak the riches from the Life-studies when we come to the meetings, it will be said that we know the truth. (CWWL, 1985, vol. 2, “The Propagation of the Gospel and the Administration of the Church,” msg. 3)
Having a Proper Attitude and Be Positive and Aggressive,
Doing Our Best to Urge People to Read His Word
Thank the Lord that we have a heart to serve the Lord and that we have obtained His mercy to serve Him in His word. We must have a proper attitude and be positive and aggressive, doing our best to urge people to read His word. If we do not find ways to promote the truth or pray, how can the Lord’s word be spread? If we take the Lord’s word lightly, how can we have the boldness to promote the public the saints? Some brothers and sisters spend more time reading the newspaper and watching television than they do reading the ministry publications; this really grieves me. I hope that we could have a jealous heart for the Lord and change the atmosphere so that would have a desire to read the Bible, and each household would make reading the spiritual publications a priority.
We must understand that our service is not to help the Book Room do business and make a profit; rather, it is to bear a burden to minister the word of the Lord and to send out His truth. I hope that our view could be expanded and broadened. The churches in Southeast Asia have been able to maintain their spiritual life for the past thirty years mainly through the publications of the Book Room. Despite the fact that the co-workers frequently go to help the churches, their true, long-term help has come from the supply of the publications. If there had been no books for the past thirty years, the churches in Southeast Asia would not have spread to the extent that they have today. Moreover, during the past twenty years, eighty percent of the more than three hundred churches in the West have been raised up through the publications. Therefore, we must see that serving in book sales is really to be the Lord’s co-worker, to promote His truth, and to spread His divine economy and divine speaking to the whole earth.
Stirring Up the Saints’ Interest in Pursuing the Truth and to Encourage Them
to Enjoy Reading the Spiritual Publications
Please pick up a burden to return to your localities, fellowship with the elders, and consider this to be an important matter. The primary matter is not to promote the books but to stir up the saints’ interest in pursuing the truth and to encourage them to enjoy reading the spiritual publications. This will depend on the way that we do it. Even the wonderful truth of the excellent gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ requires us to speak much with all our heart and to preach diligently so that people will receive and believe it. Even more, the Lord’s word will require that we bear the responsibility to labor willingly to zealously encourage and urge everyone in all the local churches to pursue the truth and read the spiritual publications. In the Lord’s truth will spread widely, and there will be a real this way revival. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 5, “The Faithful and Diligent Spreading of the Truth—concerning the Publication Service,” msg. 3)
SPENDING TIME TO LEARN, PRACTICE,
AND EQUIP OURSELVES WITH THESE RICH TRUTHS
The Lord’s recovery is richer in every aspect than it has ever been, especially in the aspect of the truth; this is an undeniable fact. We are very rich in the basic truths such as regeneration and sanctification. We have passed through more than forty years. During this time Brother Nee laid a good foundation, and I have continued to build upon it. These riches have been published in our books. I hope that you would take the opportunity in your youth to study the truth. Even if you cannot remember everything, you a good impression and know where to locate the riches. By doing this, you will be able to minister the riches whenever the need to arise should obtain or you will at least be able to find them quickly. This will depend entirely on your studiousness.
Producing an Uplifted Atmosphere
We need to spend the time to learn, practice, and cow ourselves with these rich truths. It would be excellent if there were such a prevailing atmosphere among us. The co-workers, elders, and serving ones should all be full of the truth and speak the truth in their daily conversations. If our living is according to the truth, this will spontaneously produce an uplifted atmosphere. Then both the newly saved ones among us and our children will spontaneously understand what they hear about the essential and economical Spirit, because they are living in such an atmosphere. The depth or shallowness of a truth does not depend on the truth itself but on whether it is discussed much or only a little. If we frequently talk about the dispensing of the Triune God and God’s New Testament economy, we will not feel that these matters are too deep to understand. However, if we have never heard the truth regarding regeneration and sanctification, even these matters will be deep to us.
We should not neglect the riches on our bookshelves; instead, we should read, study, discuss, and even write about them. If we can learn a little every day, we will spontaneously and gradually gain a great accumulation of truth. The riches in the publication are either from the accumulated experiences of my Christian life or from the knowledge I have gained by studying the Bible. They are also the result of studying and comparing reference books. Everything has been produced by gradual revelation and enlightenment from the Holy Spirit in the course of my seeking. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 5, “The Faithful and Diligent Spreading of the Truth—concerning the Publication Service,” msg. 5)
Taking the Lead to Read
The elders need to read more, especially the Bible and the Life-studies. There is a great need to read the Life-studies. Within the Life-studies there are over twelve hundred messages, each message containing an average of ten pages. Therefore, the twelve hundred messages have a total of approximately twelve thousand pages. The elders need to enter into the Life-studies. If they take the lead to read, the brothers and sisters will follow. It is not appropriate for the elders to ask the brothers and sisters to read if they themselves do not read. If this is the case, the elders will not be able to answer the saints properly when they have questions in regard to their reading. However, if the elders read the Life-studies, they will be able to find a way to teach and instruct the saints. This is similar to mothers who tutor their children at home. In order for a mother to tutor her children in mathematics, she must know mathematics herself. Moreover, the Life-studies can truly supply the brothers and sisters, give them light, and provide them with the life supply.
I am concerned that though there are many spiritual publications among us, not many brothers and sisters dive into them. It seems that in their living, there is only one book—the Bible—which they may read when they have time and set aside when they run out of time. When they have enough time, they also attend the meetings of the church. If this is the case, the church cannot be strong, and it will not bear rich fruit. We all know that fruit is produced out of the riches of life. If a life has no richness, it cannot bear rich fruit. Hence, the elders need to take the lead to learn the truth. They need to read the Bible more, especially the New Testament.
Spending Time to Enter into All These Riches
There is one more matter that needs our attention; that is, when we begin to read the Life-studies, we should not expect to read eight or ten messages per day. This will cause spiritual indigestion. It is best to read half a message per day. At this pace it will take only six to seven years to finish the twelve hundred messages. Although this way may seem slow, we must remember that it is better to be afraid of standing still than of being slow. If all the elders spend the next six years to read the Life-studies, I believe that they will begin to reap the benefit within half a year, and their gain over the long term will be tremendous. May we redeem the time and enter into all these riches. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 2, “Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 2: Leading the Saints to Practice the New Way Ordained by the Lord,” msg. 1)
BECOMEING A HOUSE OF SCHOLARS
I know that all of you here tonight love the Lord. The Lord Himself said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word” (John 14:23). If we do not read the Bible but are rather ignorant of the Lord’s Word, how can we keep it? Since we love the Lord, we should keep His word. If we want to keep His word, we must read His Word. At the very least, we must read a portion every day. If we would do this every day, little by little the word will be accumulated in us, and we will have a rich store of the Lord’s word. If everyone reads the Lord’s Word in this way, the truth among us will greatly increase, and we will become a house of scholars. Then when we open our mouths, the scholarly fragrance will be there. (CWWL, 1985, vol. 4, “Key Points on the Home Meetings,” msg. 1)
Furthermore, if all the churches read the Life-studies, the churches will become “scholarly spiritual families.” The newly saved ones among us will then be influenced and edified by this practice and enter into the Life-studies with us. In this way the church will surely become strong. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 2, “Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 2: Leading the Saints to Practice the New Way Ordained by the Lord,” msg. 1)
Discussion:
1. How to distribute the standing orders to the saints (like Holy Word for Morning Revival)?
2. How to promote ministry publications to the saints?
3. How to encourage saints to read the ministry publications?
