Scripture Reading: Rom. 12:1; Luke 1:74-75; 1 Cor. 7:22; Exo. 3:18; 1 Thes. 1:9; 2 Cor. 12:15a; Matt. 28:18; Luke 10:2-6

DAY 1 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 9　DAY 1　»

　　Rom. 12:1 I exhort you therefore, brothers, through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.

　　1 Cor. 7:22 For the slave who has been called in the Lord is the Lord's freedman; likewise the free man who has been called is Christ's slave.

　　

　　A saved person wishes to serve the Lord, not out of others' encouragement or compelling, neither out of others' exhortation or leading, but out of an inward motive. This motive is his love for the Lord. His love for the Lord constrains him and impels him to serve the Lord. His inward love for the Lord forces him to serve the Lord. This refers to the slave described in the Old Testament who, due to his love for his master, would not go out free at the end of his days of slavery; he would rather be a slave to serve his beloved master. Our motive of serving the Lord should be the same. We volunteer to be a slave of Lord and to serve the Lord, out of our love to the Lord.

　　We love the Lord because He loved us first. His love moves us to love Him. Lord's love to us generates the love to Him in our inward being so that we can not help but love Him. Thus it is His love that makes us to love Him and to serve Him. For this reason, Apostles exhorted us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to serve God through the compassions of God. We serve the Lord because His love stirs us up and because His love generates the love in our inward being.

　　According to the Bible, Christians … should take serving the Lord as their primary job. We, Christians, should take our jobs or careers as secondary ones. Only serving the Lord is our primary job. To us, all the jobs and careers are number two. Only serving the Lord is number one. Our purpose of living in the world is to serve the Lord. Serving the Lord should be the center and purpose of our life. All our jobs and careers are taken incidentally to sustain our life and to supply for the need of the Lord's work. At the same time, they become the means for us to contact people and to preach the gospel to others…. Whatever our job is, it should be incidental to us. Our purpose should be for serving the Lord and preaching the gospel…. If we want to be a normal Christian, it should be this way. Only to live to the Lord in this way is to serve the Lord.

　　“He who was called when free is Christ's slave” (1 Cor. 7:22). To serve the Lord is to be a slave of the Lord Christ. In this verse, a slave refers to one who is sold and who has lost his freedom. Such a status reveals the significance of serving the Lord. Our serving the Lord is not to do any great work, but to be a slave of Christ to serve the Lord.

　　“And as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting…” (Acts 13:2). In the original language, ministering here refers to service as a priest; it is the same word as in Hebrews 10:11 for the “ministering” (serving) of a priest. To serve God as a priest is to handle before God all things related to the worship of God. This requires us to constantly draw near to God and stand before Him.

　　“But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body [of Christ], even as He willed” (1 Cor. 12:18). We believers are all members placed by God in the Body of Christ, and each member has its function. When we fulfill our office to minister in the Body of Christ according to our function, we are also serving the Lord.

　　“God…whom I serve in the gospel of His Son” (Rom. 1:9). To preach the gospel is also to serve God. This means that we bring sinners to God just as the priests brought sacrifices to offer to God. Thus, Romans 15:16 says that to preach the gospel in this way is to minister “as a priest the gospel of God.” This kind of service is valuable, and it fulfills God's eternal economy.

«　WEEK 9　DAY 2　»

　　Exo. 3:18 And they will listen to your voice. And you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall say to him, Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God.

　　Luke 12:37 Blessed are those slaves whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Truly I tell you that he will gird himself and will have them recline at table, and he will come to them and serve them.

　　At present, among God's children there seems to be a common phenomenon that only a certain group of people are serving. However, God's word says that everyone who belongs to God is a servant of God. When the Israelites were in Egypt serving as slaves, they did not have any freedom. God delivered them out of Egypt and through the Red Sea for the purpose that they would serve Him in the wilderness (Exo. 3:18). The number of people under the blood was the number of people who left Egypt. The number of saved ones was the number of serving ones. When the Israelites left Egypt, they brought all the gold and silver with them (Exo. 12:35-36). Hence, as many as there were who were redeemed, that many served God in material offerings, and that many followed the tabernacle. It was not just a minority who served. Both in the Old Testament and in the New as well, there was not a distinction between the serving ones and the non-serving ones. Only degraded Christianity makes a distinction between the serving ones and the non-serving ones.

　　God's word tells us that we are those who have received God's mercy. But what should we do now? Christianity thinks that a man is first saved through the Lord's blood and by His grace, and then goes on further to forsake the world. As he advances further, he drops everything to serve God. This is degraded Christianity. According to God's word, as soon as a man is saved, and as soon as he steps into the entrance, the Lord tells him to take up the cross (Matt. 16:24). Either a man does not become a disciple, or he has to be one in an absolute way. The Lord sets the price clearly right from the beginning for every saved one. The first day they come, they see the tomb. The first day they come, they are asked to forsake the world. We cannot lower down the gospel, and make the gospel no more the gospel. The Lord never lowers the price to attract customers. The gospel is the least expensive thing there is. Yet at the same time, it is the most costly thing there is. If we are to be saved, we have to be saved in a clear-cut way. Only those who have paid a high price can feel the joy.

　　When we read 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12, we see that service belongs to the whole Body; it is not a service of three or five special people. For this reason, we asked all the brothers and sisters to hand themselves over. What the Lord wants is absolute service. We hope that every brother and sister can get through in this matter. The Lord wants such an absolute service. Not only the co-workers need coordination in their work; every brother and sister needs to be coordinated also.

　　“If anyone serves Me [the Lord Jesus]…the Father [God] will honor him” (John 12:26). For our service to the Lord, we shall be honored by the Father. What a reward this is!

　　Luke 12:37 says that when the Lord comes back, the slaves who have been watchful to serve the Lord will be blessed to sit at the feast and will enjoy the Lord's serving. This is also a great reward from the Lord to those who serve Him.

　　“Well done, good and faithful slave…I will set you over many things; enter into the joy of your Lord” (Matt. 25:21, 23). This verse says that the good and faithful slave who serves the Lord will be set over many things and enter into the manifestation of the coming kingdom and into the joy of the Lord. Surely this is a great reward, which we should appreciate and long for.

«　WEEK 9　DAY 3　»

　　Eph. 4:11-12And He himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ,

　　Rom. 15:16 That I might be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, a laboring priest of the gospel of God, in order that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, having been sanctified in the Holy Spirit.

　　The New Testament service ordained by God in the Scriptures indicates that all New Testament believers are priests to serve God (Rev. 1:5-6). The priests are those who serve God. Everyone who serves God, anywhere and at any time, must be a priest.... In the Old Testament the priests specialized in taking care of the sacrifices. By this we can see that the priests of the gospel, mentioned in Romans 15:16, are those who specialize in taking care of the gospel…. [And also] the New Testament priests of the gospel should be laboring priests of the gospel, … who diligently labor in the gospel of God. Paul was such a priest of the gospel of God, and we too should be such (The Up-to-Date Presentation of the God-Ordained Way and the Signs Concerning the Coming of Christ).

　　The building up of the Body of Christ does not depend on a few people. Rather, every one of the perfected saints should participate in the work of the building up of the Body of Christ. Begetting, nourishing, teaching, and building are the four major steps in the new way. When every one of the saints in the church can beget, nourish, teach, and build, God's eternal purpose is fulfilled.

　　The first matter in the Christian service is the preaching of the gospel. The spiritual childbearing is the preaching of the gospel. Paul said, “For though you have ten thousand guides in Christ, yet not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel” (1 Cor. 4:15). Paul preached the gospel and led many to salvation. These Corinthian believers then became the spiritual children begotten by Paul.

　　After the fruit bearing comes the nourishing. Every mother knows that the first thing a newborn child does is drink milk. Hence, the first thing a mother has to learn is how to nurse her child. After a child is born, we do not ask him to come to us to be fed. Rather, we have to go to him and feed him with milk. If we cannot go to the homes of the new ones daily, we should go at least once every three days. The best way is to go every day. When we go to the homes of the new brothers and sisters and feed them with spiritual food, this is what we call the home meetings.

　　After feeding him for more than one month, he is stabilized. You shall bring him to the small group meetings immediately to contact brothers and sisters and to have a corporate living, i.e. to enter the church life. There should not only be teaching but also feeding in the small group. Furthermore, the small group should be organic and everyone teaches and learns to build up the body of Christ. In our small group meetings, we admonish every man and teach every man in all wisdom that we may present every man full-grown in Christ. This offering is the work of a priest.

　　The work of New Testament Ministry is not for something else and is only for the building up the body of Christ. Chapter fourteen of 1 Corinthians speaks mainly about the building of Church and the way of building up of Church, i.e., prophesying. Paul said “For you can all prophesy one by one that all may learn and all may be encouraged” (1 Cor 14:26). “Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for the building up.” Therefore every man should practice prophesying for the building up of body of Christ.

«　WEEK 9　DAY 4　»

　　Rom. 10:15 And how shall they proclaim Him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the news of good things!”

　　Matt. 28:19 Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

　　The gospel is Christ, who is the very embodiment of the processed Triune God, reaching us as the consummated Spirit, who is the consummation of the Triune God for our enjoyment. According to the truth, the gospel is the entire New Testament. Christians are used to saying that there are four Gospels, but Paul told us that the entire book of Romans is the gospel of God (1:1, 15). It includes the preaching of God, the condemnation of God upon fallen man, and the Body life, including the local churches in chapter sixteen. Have you ever received such a broad view of the definition of the gospel? Personally, the gospel is a wonderful person, and according to the truth, the gospel is the entire divine revelation of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. God's New Testament economy is the gospel. We have to believe in such a gospel, preach such a gospel, and live uniquely for such a gospel. The consummated Spirit, who is God Himself reaching us, eventually has become the seven Spirits in Revelation (1:4; 4:5; 5:6). The seven Spirits are also a part of the gospel.

　　My intention is to impress you that in the universe and today on this earth there is something called the gospel which we are reminded and commanded to live for. The Lord commanded us to live for this gospel uniquely. What are we living on this earth for? Do we live for our profession or for our job to make a lot of money? What is man living for? Poor human society has so much activity but no goal. Do we have a goal? Our goal is the gospel, and our gospel is the Triune God processed to be the very Spirit within us as our salvation, as our life, as our life supply, and as our all-inclusive enjoyment.

　　What a wonder and what a glory to live uniquely for such a gospel. I have been living uniquely for this gospel for over fifty years. Hallelujah for this! It is worth it! When I was called by the Lord, my thinking was that God had called me to go to preach and teach in all the villages of my county, not even to my entire province. If I had done that all my life, I would have been more than happy. I never thought that I would be speaking in the United States and in other parts of the world to an international audience. By the Lord's mercy I am living uniquely for the gospel!

　　At the end of the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord came as the very embodiment of the processed Triune God in resurrection and told us that all authority had been given to Him in heaven and on earth (28:18). The President of the United States sends ambassadors to many countries representing him with full authority, but why do we need this kind of authority, all authority in heaven and on earth? We need this authority to disciple the nations. All of us have to ask ourselves how many we have discipled. Have you believed in Him? Have you received Him? Do you have Him living in you? Are you one spirit with Him? Are you abiding in Him? Is He now abiding in you? Are you and He one? If you say yes to these questions, you have the authority in heaven and on earth to go! The worth and importance of the word "go" cannot be measured. Go, go, go! Go to Jerusalem first, then Judea, then Samaria, then to the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:8). Go to all the homes in all the countries. Go to your cousins' homes, go to your in-laws' homes. Go to the homes to disciple the nations.

«　WEEK 9　DAY 5　»

　　John 15:16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I set you that you should go forth and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give you.

　　Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

　　Are you happy to remain in a barren situation for years? Second Peter indicates that it is possible for us to be idle and unfruitful, barren (1:8). Suppose tomorrow morning the Lord comes back. Then according to His word in Matthew 25, you will have to give Him an account of what you have been doing. What will you tell Him? Will you tell Him that you have had a good church life in your locality, that whatever He has given you is still here? Will you tell Him that He is a hard man, reaping where He did not sow and gathering where He did not scatter? What would the Lord say? Would the Lord say, "Well done, good and faithful slave. enter into the joy of your lord" (25:23)? Or would He call you an evil and slothful slave (25:26)? According to Matthew 25, where will He put you? Do not forget that the one who is put into outer darkness is the one who has received the real gift, one talent. This one is not only saved but also gifted. The Lord is real, He will really come back, and His word spoken in Matthew 25 will be fulfilled. This is a serious and solemn matter.

　　John 15:16 says, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I appointed you that you should go forth and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain." In this verse there are some words which are quite crucial. The first word is "appointed." We did not choose ourselves, but He chose us. We have no choice in the matter of being a branch of Christ, the vine, because He caught us. He chose us and appointed us to bear fruit. To bear fruit is the Lord's appointment, His assignment. He did not assign us to do anything else. He appointed us to bear fruit. The Lord charged us to go forth and bear fruit. Can a branch go? The branches of a physical tree do not go. But we are not only living branches, but also movable branches. We have to go. This indicates that we have to reach people.

　　The Lord says that we should go forth and bear fruit and that our fruit should remain. In the past we took the wrong way. Occasionally people came to us and they believed and were baptized, but they did not remain because nobody took care of them. This is like a mother delivering a child, and then leaving her newborn baby without any care. How could she expect this baby to remain? The Lord has shown us the way for our fruit to remain. We do not just go out to reach people by knocking on their doors and bringing them into the Triune God through their believing and baptism. After this, we immediately set up a home meeting in their home. To set up a home meeting is to set up a shelter to protect this new babe. The farmers protect the fruit in their orchard. Peaches that are ripe and have just been picked need to be covered. Otherwise, the birds may eat them. This covering helps the fruit to remain. Likewise, to set up a meeting in a baptized one's home is to set up a shelter. Then under the shelter you go back to them regularly to feed them. Surely they will be protected, they will be fed, and they will remain. This is the secret of having remaining fruit.

«　WEEK 9　DAY 6　»

　　John 15:5 ….He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

　　1 Tim. 4:2 By means of the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, of men who are branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron,

　　To pray, to confess our sins, to deal with our sins, and subsequently to be filled with the Holy Spirit will result in boldness and confidence. If you go out door-knocking but have not prayed, your legs will be shaking, and you will not have power in your speaking. However, through prayer, confessing of sins, and being filled with the Holy Spirit, not only will you have the boldness when door-knocking, but you will also have the confidence that the person you are visiting will be saved. Once you are filled with the Holy Spirit though, not only will you have the power for speaking, but you also can determine whether or not he will be saved. If you say he will be saved, he will be saved; if you say he will not be saved and that he needs to wait awhile, then he will not be saved. This is the effectiveness of prayer, confessing of sins, and being filled with the Holy Spirit.

　　When you go door-knocking, you have to pay attention to your attitude. You should never be reckless or hasty. Rather, you should be modest, courteous, gentle, respectful, dignified, and weighty. Moreover, when you speak, you should learn to be concise instead of being wordy and to be affectionate instead of being cold. If they answer, “I do not have time,” you should not give up. Instead, you should say, “It will take you just one minute.” Eventually, the person may be saved and baptized because of this one-minute gospel preaching.

　　The booklet The Mystery of Human Life has also been greatly used by the Lord. Hence, we also have to learn to use this booklet. First, you should memorize the four main sections. The first section is on God's creation, the second section is on man's fall, the third section is on Christ's redemption, and the fourth section is on God's dispensing. You need to learn to follow the Spirit's leading within you. When you sense you need to read a certain section, then turn to that section and read it.

　　A brother once testified that the person he visited said that his speaking was very good. I instructed those present that this was the right moment to pray. If that person would pray, he would believe and receive the Lord, and then the brother should baptize him. It was the same with me in the past. When I went to lead someone to the Lord, often at the critical juncture I did not have the boldness to lead him to pray. Instead, I kept thinking that it might be too early and that I should not take the opportunity. Once I lost the opportunity, though, I may have lost it for my whole life; I may never have had the opportunity to see him again.

　　Brother Nee once told us that gospel preachers have to be thick-skinned. Those who are thin-skinned cannot lead people to salvation. Perhaps some brothers and sisters would say, “If this is the case, then since I am such a thin-skinned person, I may as well forget about going out to knock on doors.” In the past, when I saw strangers, I would start sweating, and my face would turn red. Every time my mother wanted to invite people to our home, I would be the first one to object because I did not like to meet strangers, and I disliked even more going to other people's homes. Later the Lord arranged the environment and forced me into a situation in which I had to stand and speak from the platform. It does not matter if you are thin-skinned; as long as you are willing to practice, willing to go visit by door-knocking, slowly you will have the boldness. On the other hand, while you are door-knocking, you must learn the technique of grasping the opportunity to lead a person to believe and pray. Immediately after he prays, you should show him Romans 10:13, which says, “For ‘whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.'” Then say to him, “My friend, congratulations! You are saved!” The next thing is to lead him to be baptized.

　　I hope that from now on everyone will practice door-knocking and visiting people. This is the first item we should practice. Maybe we cannot go out to knock on doors every day, but one thing we can do is spend two to three hours each week for door-knocking. We should visit not only those whom we know but also those we do not know. We should knock on all the doors in the district in which we live. Do not worry or be anxious. As long as we are willing to do it, we will be successful.