Scripture Reading: Acts 28:31; John 5:17; Acts 1:14; 6:7; 11:23-24; 19:20; 26:18

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 2　DAY 1　»

　　Joel 2:28 And afterward I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams; your young men shall see visions.

　　32 And everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem will be an escape, as Jehovah has said, even for the remnant whom Jehovah calls.

　　In Joel we see the history of God, of man, and of God's economy....We should not think that man has a history but that God does not have a history. In this universe there are two histories: the history of man, the human history, and the history of God, the divine history. We may liken the history of man to the shell of a walnut and the history of God to the kernel within the shell.

　　Although it is easy for us to see the shell, which is something outward and physical, we must have a kind of intrinsic insight in order to see the kernel within the shell, to know the divine history within the human history.

　　We need to have a clear view of these two histories—the physical human history and the mysterious divine history....The history of man, the history of the world, is outward. The divine history, the history of God in and with humanity, is inward. This history is a matter of the divine mystery of the Triune God in humanity. (Life-study of Joel, pp. 33-36)

　　We all were born in the human history, but we have been reborn, regenerated, in the divine history....If our living is in the world, we are living in the human history. But if we are living in the church, we are living in the divine history. In the church life God's history is our history. (Life-study of Joel, p. 36)

　　Regarding [the manifestation of Christ], Joel speaks...concerning the outpouring of the processed, consummated, compound Spirit, that is, the Spirit of God compounded with Christ's humanity, Christ's death and its effectiveness, and Christ's resur- rection with its power....This is the Holy Spirit, who was poured out on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4, 16-21), and this Spirit is the consummated Triune God and the realization of Christ for the manifestation of Christ. This manifestation began with the incarnation of Christ and has been confirmed and strengthened by the outpouring of the Spirit, for through that outpouring the individual Christ became the corporate Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-13), the church as the great mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:15-16). The church as the manifestation of Christ will bring in the glorious day of restoration, the age of the millennial kingdom (Joel 3:16-21), in which Christ will be manifested in a fuller way. The restoration will consummate in the fullest manifestation of Christ in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth (Rev. 21:1-2). (Joel 2:28, footnote 1)

　　Since the day of Pentecost there is now a group of persons on the earth who have the Triune God within them as their life and upon them as their authority....This group of people is the church, the Body of Christ. If we have this vision, it will be easy to have a living and prevailing faith. Whenever we need power, since we are in the Body and for the Body, we have the position to claim as our portion whatever the Head has accomplished for the Body. We may claim whatever we need for our experience. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 2, "A General Sketch of the New Testament in the Light of Christ and the Church, Part 1—the Gospels and Acts," pp. 195-196)

　　[In Acts 28:26-27] God the Spirit through the apostle repeated [the word in Isaiah 6:9-10] again to the hard-hearted people. This indicates that in all the moves of the Divine Trinity the children of Israel were disobedient to the God of grace. Then He turned to the Gentiles for the carrying out of His New Testament economy in the spreading of His kingdom for the building up of the churches through the propagation of the resurrected and ascended Christ (Acts 28:28). (Life-study of Acts, pp. 620-621)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Acts, msgs. 70-71; CWWL, 1965, vol. 1, "The All-inclusive Spirit of Christ," pp. 563-565

«　WEEK 2　DAY 2　»

　　Acts 28:30-31 And he [Paul] remained two whole years in his own rented dwelling and welcomed all those who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness, unhindered.

　　There is one book in the Bible which does not have an end. All the other sixty-five books have an end. But one book does not have an end. This book is the Acts of the Apostles. Why does Acts 28 end the way it does? When you read Acts 28, you feel as if the book has not yet concluded. This book does not have an ending. The Acts of the Apostles is a book without an ending because this book is still being continued. Perhaps the acts of the first-century apostles have ended, but the book of Acts as a whole has not yet ended. Until now we still have the Acts of the Apostles with us. This book has not yet ended. (CWWN, vol. 37, p. 121)

　　The Lord said, "My Father is working until now, and I also am working" (John 5:17). This shows that since the rebellion of Satan and the fall of man, God has been working until now, and the Lord is also working. What is the book of Acts? The book of Acts is not a record of the work of Paul or a record of the work of Peter or John. The book of Acts is a record of the work of God. Who can say that God has done no work after Acts 28? Who can say that God's work stopped after Acts 28?

　　The book of Acts does not have an ending. After chapter 28 many of God's vessels are still carrying on with His work. His work is continuing and has not stopped. Everything was not over after Paul worked in Rome for two years. Paul lived in Rome and was later martyred. None of these things are recorded in the book of Acts. Peter, Paul, and John are three important persons, yet none of their endings were recorded. How can we say that the book of Acts has ended? God's testimony can never be finished....Although the written record no longer continued after chapter 28, God's work has been going on. The work in the first century was not the peak. For four thousand years, God had been working....The first century was not the end of God's work, nor was the sixteenth century the end of His work. Even last century was not the end of God's work. His work will go on until the kingdom and even until the new heaven and the new earth. God is always advancing; He never stops. If we know this and believe in this, we will praise our Lord.

　　Man always has a misconception that his age is the worst age of the church. At the time of Martin Luther some thought this way. At the time of John Wesley some thought this way. We consider Martin Luther's time a marvelous age and John Wesley's time a marvelous age also. While we consider their ages marvelous, some who come fifty years after us will say that we were at a marvelous age. We are afraid that man will stop. But God never stops....He is always advancing. Hallelujah! God is a God who keeps on advancing!

　　Every time God advances, He finds some vessels. In the book of Acts, God found some vessels. At the time of Martin Luther, God found a vessel, and at the time of John Wesley, He also found a vessel. Every time there is a spiritual revival, God finds some vessels. Where is God's vessel today? It is true that the Father is working until now. But who is continuing to work together with Him? Who can say, "I also am working"? This is the crucial question.

　　If God grants us light and if we see God's truth, we will admit that God is after the same vessel today that He ordained at the beginning. This vessel is the church. In other words, God is not after an individual vessel today, but a corporate one.

　　We have to learn to live the Body life....[For this] we have to deny the natural life and be judged and dealt with by God in a deep way. We must learn obedience, and we must also learn fellowship. In this way, we will have the chance of becoming God's vessel. (CWWN, vol. 37, pp. 121-124)

　　Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 37, ch. 20

«　WEEK 2　DAY 3　»

　　Rom. 8:29 Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers.

　　12:5 So we who are many are one Body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

　　The book of Acts was not actually ended; rather, it was left open that more may be added. The reason for this must have been that the work of the Holy Spirit in preaching Christ for His propagation, multiplication, and spread through the believers of Christ was not yet completed and needed to be continued for a long period of time. Such an evangelistic work for Christ's propagation, multiplication, and spread is according to God's New Testament economy for the producing of many sons for God (Rom. 8:29) that they might be the members of Christ to constitute His Body (Rom. 12:5) for the carrying out of God's eternal plan and the fulfillment of His eternal will. This is revealed in detail in the twenty-one Epistles and the book of Revelation, which follow this book. The church produced by Christ's propagation and multiplication is the sphere in which God is expressed and in which He reigns in Christ; hence, the church becomes the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God, along with Christ's propagation and multiplication, grows out of and spreads from God's life. Acts is a record of the spreading of Christ; it is also a record of the kingdom of God, because the kingdom of God is the expansion of Christ. The gospel that is widely preached in this book is the very Christ as the gospel (Acts 5:42), the gospel of Christ, and it is also the kingdom of God as the gospel (8:12), the gospel of the kingdom of God. The preaching of such a gospel will continue and advance until the whole earth becomes the kingdom of Christ (Rev. 11:15). (Acts 28:31, footnote 2)

　　Revelation 1 tells us that the churches are golden lampstands. God does not simply say that the churches are golden; He says that the churches are golden lampstands. If the churches are just golden, they cannot satisfy God. God says that the churches are golden lampstands because golden lampstands shine and enlighten. God desires the church to be a shining vessel, a vessel of testimony. From the beginning God has ordained that the church be a lampstand. The church, not individuals, is a lampstand before the Lord. It is not enough just to be golden, and it is not enough just to be of God. There must be the shining for God and the testimony for Him before the church can be considered the lampstand.

　　Hence, the church exists for God's testimony. Anything that is not golden is not the church, and anything that is not a lampstand is not the church. Anything that does not have life within is not the church, and anything that does not have the testimony within is also not the church. The church must realize what God is doing and what He is after in this age; it must realize what God's testimony on the earth today is. Only then can the church be considered the golden lampstand.

　　Simply put, God's work is always advancing. He is still seeking this vessel. His vessel today is the same vessel He intended to have at the beginning; the church is this vessel, not single individuals.

　　Some may ask, What does it mean that the overcomers come out of the church? It is true that there needs to be overcomers who come out of the church. But even the testimony of the overcomers is maintained on behalf of the corporate whole; it is not for individuals alone. The overcomers are not men who consider themselves extraordinary, better than others, and who put everyone else aside. The overcomers work on behalf of the whole church. They do the work, while the whole church gains the benefit. The overcomers are not for themselves; they stand on the ground of the church, and they are there to bring the whole church to perfection. They stand on the ground of the church and maintain their stand on behalf of the church. Even the victories of the overcomers are corporate victories. (CWWN, vol. 37, pp. 123-124)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Acts, msg. 55

«　WEEK 2　DAY 4　»

　　Acts 6:7 And the word of God grew, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem multiplied greatly; and a large number of the priests obeyed the faith.

　　12:24 But the word of God grew and multiplied.

　　5:14 And believers were all the more being added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.

　　[In Acts 6:7] grew refers to growth in life, indicating that the word of God is a matter of life that grows as a seed sown into man's heart (Mark 4:14). (Acts 6:7, footnote 1)

　　[In Acts 11:23, "to remain with the Lord with purpose of heart" is to] be persistently faithful to the Lord, cleave to Him, and live in close fellowship with Him. (Acts 11:23, footnote 2)

　　According to Romans 15:16, Paul offered the saved sinners to God as acceptable sacrifices. All the unbelieving sinners are in Adam. When we preach the gospel to them and they receive the Lord, they are transferred out of Adam into Christ. When someone believes into Christ, he becomes a part of Christ. The unbelievers who are transferred into Christ are the increase of Christ. When I am preaching the gospel to offer saved persons to God, I am offering Christ—not the individual Christ but the corporate Christ. In the Old Testament the priests offered bulls and goats as sacrifices. God was pleased with that because they were types of the coming Christ. Our work today in the New Testament age is to preach the gospel to save sinners, to make them parts of Christ. When we offer these ones to God, God considers them as parts of Christ....Because we are members of Christ, we can say that we are Christ. Paul says in Philippians 1:21, "To me, to live is Christ." When we were offered to God, we were offered to God as Christ. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, "The Advance of the Lord's Recovery Today," p. 24)

　　In the New Testament, calling on the name of the Lord was first mentioned by Peter...on the day of Pentecost, as the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy [Joel 2:32]. This fulfillment is related to God's outpouring of the all-inclusive Spirit economically upon His chosen people that they may participate in His New Testament jubilee. Joel's prophecy and its fulfillment concerning God's New Testament jubilee have two aspects: on God's side, He poured out His Spirit in the ascension of the resurrected Christ; on our side, we call on the name of the ascended Lord, who has accomplished all, attained unto all, and obtained all. Calling on the Lord's name is vitally necessary in order for us, the believers in Christ, to participate in and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ with all He has accomplished, attained, and obtained (1 Cor. 1:2). It is a major practice in God's New Testament economy that enables us to enjoy the processed Triune God for our full salvation (Rom. 10:10-13). The early believers practiced this everywhere (1 Cor. 1:2)....In 2 Timothy 2:22, Paul indicated that in the early days all the Lord's seekers practiced such calling. Undoubtedly, he was one who practiced this, since he charged his young co-worker Timothy to do this that Timothy might enjoy the Lord as he did.

　　Calling on the name of the Lord is not a new practice that began with the New Testament. Rather, it began with Enosh, the third generation of mankind, in Genesis 4:26. It was continued by Job (Job 12:4; 27:10), Abraham (Gen. 12:8; 13:4; 21:33), Isaac (Gen. 26:25), Moses and the children of Israel (Deut. 4:7), Samson (Judg. 15:18; 16:28), Samuel (1 Sam. 12:18; Psa. 99:6), David (2 Sam. 22:4, 7; 1 Chron. 16:8; 21:26;...Psa. 17:6),...and others (Psa. 99:6), all of whom practiced this in the Old Testament age. Isaiah charged the seekers of God to call upon Him (Isa. 55:6)....It is God's commandment (Psa. 50:15; Jer. 29:12) and desire (Psa. 91:15; Zeph. 3:9; Zech. 13:9) that His people call on Him. This is the joyful way to drink from the fountain of God's salvation (Isa. 12:3-4) and the enjoyable way to delight oneself in God (Job 27:10), that is, to enjoy Him. Hence, God's people must call upon Him daily (Psa. 88:9). (Acts 2:21, footnote 1)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, "The Advance of the Lord's Recovery Today," chs. 1-2; CWWL, 1985, vol. 3, "Elders' Training, Book 5: Fellowship concerning the Lord's Up-to-date Move," ch. 3

«　WEEK 2　DAY 5　»

　　Acts 5:41 So they went from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be dishonored on behalf of the Name.

　　9:27 But Barnabas took hold of him and led him to the apostles, and he related to them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.

　　It is a real honor to be dishonored on behalf of the Name, the very name of the man-dishonored but God-honored Jesus. Hence, the dishonored ones rejoiced that they were counted worthy to be dishonored on behalf of the Name. (Acts 5:41, footnote 1)

　　The name is the expression of the sum total of what the Lord Jesus is in His person and work. In the name of Jesus means in the sphere and element of all that the Lord is. (Phil. 2:10, footnote 1)

　　Acts should not be separated from the four Gospels. Acts should be included with the Gospels because these five books together give us a full picture of a universal man. The four Gospels give us a picture of the Head, and the book of Acts shows us the Body.

　　Strictly speaking, however, this book [of Acts] records not merely the acts of the apostles but the acts of Christ by the Spirit in the church. The acts of the apostles and of all the believers, that is, of the church, are the acts of Christ in the church by the Holy Spirit.

　　In the four Gospels there is one man, Jesus of Nazareth, living in a divine way by the divine life. In Acts, however, there are thousands of persons living in a divine way by the same divine life....Moreover, these thousands of people lived, acted, walked, and worked not by themselves but by that one wonderful person. After the Lord Jesus died, resurrected, and ascended, He continued to live, act, walk, and work on this earth in thousands of people because He imparted Himself into them through His death and resurrection....Originally, He was one Jesus, one Christ, but now He was reproduced in thousands of Christians. Originally, He was one grain, but now He became many grains, a mass duplication, a mass reproduction (John 12:24). Every one of us is also a part of this mass reproduction.

　　The book of Acts contains the acts of Christ, not Christ acting in Himself alone but acting in His reproduction and duplication, which is the church, the Body of the universal man. This universal man is the fullness of Christ (Eph. 1:23); therefore, it is a part of Christ, even Christ Himself. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 2, "A General Sketch of the New Testament in the Light of Christ and the Church, Part 1—the Gospels and Acts," pp. 177-179)

　　[In Acts 5:20, "this life" was] the divine life preached, ministered, and lived by Peter that overcame the Jewish leaders' persecution, threatening, and imprisonment....Peter's life and work made the divine life so real and present in his situation that even the angel saw it and pointed it out. (Acts 5:20, footnote 2)

　　[In Hebrews 13:13] "the camp" signifies human organization, especially that of Judaism. Paul's word here is based on the fact that Christ was crucified outside the city, outside the camp. Since Christ was rejected and suffered outside the camp, we should go forth unto Him outside the camp. (Life-study of Acts, p. 630)

　　The Lord Jesus entered the heavens, the Holy of Holies within the veil, as mentioned in Hebrews 6:20, and with Him is the heavenly haven for our refuge, which we can now enter in our spirit (10:19). (Heb. 6:18, footnote 3)

　　The Lord's blood, through which He entered into the Holy of Holies (9:12), opened the new and living way, enabling us to enter within the veil to enjoy Him in the heavens as the glorified One (10:19-20); and His body, which was sacrificed for us on the cross, cut the narrow way of the cross, enabling us to go outside the camp to follow Him on earth as the suffering One (13:13). (Heb. 13:12, footnote 2)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1964, vol. 2, "A General Sketch of the New Testament in the Light of Christ and the Church, Part 1—the Gospels and Acts," chs. 6-8; Life-study of Acts, msg. 72

«　WEEK 2　DAY 6　»

　　Heb. 8:1-2 ...We have such a High Priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the holy places, even of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.

　　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.

　　[A minister is] one who ministers as a priest. As a minister of the true (heavenly) tabernacle, Christ ministers heaven (which is not only a place but also a condition of life) into us that we may have the heavenly life and power to live a heavenly life on earth, as He did while He was here. (Heb. 8:2, footnote 1)

　　Paul's being a priest of the gospel of God to minister Christ to the Gentiles was a priestly service to God, and the Gentiles whom he gained through his gospel preaching were an offering presented to God....They were set apart from things common and were saturated with God's nature and element, and were thus sanctified both positionally and dispositionally (see footnote 2 on Rom. 6:19). Such a sanctification is in the Holy Spirit. This means that, based on Christ's redemption, the Holy Spirit renews, transforms, and separates unto holiness those who have been regenerated by believing into Christ. (Rom. 15:16, footnote 3)

　　We were raised together with Christ. We are now where Christ is, sitting in the heavens....We should seek the things that are in the heavens, such as knowing Christ as everything to us, so that we take Him as life and thereby walk in Him. (Col. 3:1, footnote 2)

　　The heavens are linked to Christ and joined to the church. The things above include the ascended Christ and all things pertaining to Him. Therefore, to seek the things above is to seek to live Christ in and with the church. (Col. 3:1, footnote 3)

　　Zebulun typifies Christ as the "shore" of the evangelists for the transportation and spreading in the preaching of God's gospel. After Christ accomplished all the things that are to be proclaimed as the gospel, on the day of Pentecost at least 120 gospel "ships," all of whom were Galileans (Acts 2:7; 13:31), set out from the "shore" to spread the gospel. (Psa. 68:27, footnote 3)

　　According to Genesis 49:21..., Naphtali is a hind let loose, and he gives beautiful words. Naphtali typifies Christ as the One who is released from death in resurrection, signified by the hind let loose (Psa. 22 title; S.S. 2:8-9), and gives beautiful words for the preaching of His gospel (Matt. 28:18-20).

　　In typology Zebulun and Naphtali form a group for the spreading and the propagating of the glad tidings of Christ's redemption, accomplished for God's salvation. The people of both Zebulun and Naphtali were men of Galilee (Matt. 4:12-17; Acts 1:11), from whom the gospel of Christ has been spread, preached, and propagated. (Psa. 68:27, footnote 4)

　　Paul went to Ephesus and made tents, yet he was still an apostle....Whether one made tents or practiced medicine, all were for the purpose of being an apostle, not that he might not be an apostle. Perhaps he could not be an apostle if he did not make tents. I hope we can see this point clearly before God. Many times, God allowed Paul to do some work to enable Paul to be an apostle all the more.

　　Whatever I do is for serving God. Not making money is to serve God, and making money is also to serve God.

　　We naturally have a mistaken thought, thinking that co-workers are those who have given up their occupation and have income other than that which comes from an occupation. This is not so. Co-workers are those who have one heart, one purpose, and one ambition before God and who are serving God to please Him. As long as their purpose is the same, these are all co-workers in the Lord, no matter what jobs their hands are engaged in. (CWWN, vol. 51, "Church Affairs," pp. 190, 196, 198)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, "The Triune God's Revelation and His Move," ch. 12; CWWN, vol. 51, "Church Affairs," ch. 11