«　WEEK 6　DAY 1　»

　　Deut. 16:16 Three times a year all your males shall appear before Jehovah your God in the place which He will choose:…And they shall not appear before Jehovah empty-handed.

　　1 Cor. 14:26 What then, brothers? 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 building up.

　　We must till our spiritual ground; we must sow the spiritual seed; we must water the spiritual plants—all the time. We cannot rely upon others to do it for us; we must do it ourselves, or it will never be done. Sisters, have you pray-read the Word this morning? Brothers, how many times have you contacted the Lord today? This is the situation. We do not cultivate Christ. We have a very rich land, but we do not work on it, so there is no produce. We are indeed rich in resource but poor in produce. (CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The All-inclusive Christ,” p. 344)

　　The Lord told His people that they must come together to worship Him at least three times a year: at the time of the Passover, at the time of Pentecost, and at the Feast of Tabernacles. And He told them that whenever they come together, they should in no wise come with their hands empty. They must bring something in their hands to Him, something of the produce of the good land. If they were lazy and did not work on the land, not only would they be unable to bring anything to the Lord, but they would have nothing to satisfy themselves; they would be hungry.

　　Whenever we come to the meetings, whenever we come to worship the Lord, we should not come with our hands empty. We must come with our hands full of the produce of Christ. We have to labor on Christ day by day so that we produce Him in mass production. We need more than just a little of Christ to satisfy our own needs. We must produce enough of Him so that there will be a surplus remaining for others, for the poor and for the needy: “You must open your hand to your brother, to the poor one with you and to the needy one with you in your land” (Deut. 15:11). There must also be a surplus to meet the needs of the priests and the Levites…(18:3-4). And above all, the best of the surplus must be reserved for the Lord: “Then to the place where Jehovah your God will choose to cause His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I am commanding you, your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the heave offering of your hand and all your choice vows which you vow to Jehovah” (12:11). When they harvested the field, they were to reserve the firstfruits for the Lord. When the cattle were brought forth, the firstborn were for the Lord. We must labor diligently, not only to bring forth enough to satisfy our own needs but also to acquire a surplus to meet the needs of others, with the best reserved for the Lord. Then we will be acceptable to the Lord, and He will be pleased with us.

　　This is the life in the good land. It is a life in which we are continually laboring on Christ, in which we are producing Him in a mass way. We are reaping so much of Christ that we are fully satisfied, and beyond that we have a surplus to share with others and to worship God. To worship God with Christ does not mean to worship Him individually but to worship Him collectively with all the children of God by enjoying Christ with one another and with God. When you come, you bring something of Christ. When he comes, he brings something of Christ. Everyone brings a portion of Christ from his laboring on Him, and there is a rich enjoyment of Christ, not only by all the saints but most of all by God, to whom the best is offered. (CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The All-inclusive Christ,” pp. 344-345)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The All-inclusive Christ,” chs. 15-16