Scripture Reading: Matt. 7:21; 12:50; 18:20; Eph. 3:8; Col. 1:12; 1 Cor. 14:26; Heb. 10:25

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 8　DAY 1　»

　　Heb. 10:25 Not abandoning our own assembling together,…and so much the more as you see the day drawing near.

　　1 Cor. 14:23-24 If therefore the whole church comes together in one place, and…if all prophesy and some unbeliever or unlearned person enters, he is convicted by all, he is examined by all.

　　Exodus 15:13 says, “In Your lovingkindness You have led the people whom You have redeemed; / You have guided them in Your strength to Your holy habitation.” Have you ever noticed that the destination of God’s guiding is His holy habitation? Could you realize that God’s habitation is the meeting of His redeemed people? So you have a term that combines these two things together: the Tent of Meeting. The tent refers to God’s dwelling place, and the meeting, no doubt, refers to the gathering of God’s people. This indicates that the gathering of God’s people is just God’s dwelling place.

　　In the New Testament …God’s habitation is the church. And the church, according to the Greek word ekklesia, means a kind of meeting. It is a meeting or an assembly of the called-out ones. When God’s called-out ones meet together, this is the church. The church is the meeting of a collective people, a gathering of the believers. This gathering is the habitation of God. So the church is the “Tent of Meeting.” (CWWL, 1982, vol. 1, “Experiencing Christ as the Offerings for the Church Meetings,” pp. 481-482)

　　We have to realize that today on the earth, besides our inner life, no other thing is so crucial, so important, so profitable as the matter of meeting. Believe me! One day you will testify that to lose your job is not so important as to miss a meeting. To miss a meeting means the real loss.

　　We live on this earth, and our goal, our purpose, is to do the will of our Father. How could we know His will? There is no other way except by attending the meetings….When you begin to miss the meeting, you begin to miss God’s will. Then you would begin to go back to that miserable life under Satan’s tyranny from which you have been delivered already.

　　So we must do whatever we can not to miss any meetings….Coming to the meeting must be first. I have never seen one saint who eventually really suffered because of coming to the meeting…. Rather, I can testify that I have seen thousands in the past who kept coming to the meetings and who were much blessed by the Lord, not only spiritually but even physically. The Lord is faithful, and His promise is trustworthy.

　　Saints, be encouraged and be assured. This is not only the right way; this is also the unique way….To be a human being, we have to be a Christian. To be a Christian, we have to come to the meeting. There is no choice. This is our destiny. To come to the meeting is not only our destination; it is our destiny. Our Father predestined us this way….If we go along with God’s predestination, surely we will be under His blessing. If not, we are kicking against the pricks, and we will suffer.

　　Some might consider that they sacrifice too much time to come to the meetings. They might consider that if they used all their time to do business, they would make more money. Let them try four or five years, and they will see the suffering. I have seen too many cases like this. This thought is quite deceiving and quite misleading….If we come to the meeting, we are keeping His predestination, and the destiny of blessing will come to us. It will come not only to us, one generation, but perhaps even to the third generation, or generation after generation. Both we and our children will be under God’s blessing.

　　To meet together is not a small thing…. Here we know the will of God, here we do the will of God, and eventually we will fulfill His purpose. (CWWL, 1982, vol.1, “Experiencing Christ as the Offerings for the Church Meetings,” pp. 488, 490-491)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “The Crucial Points of the Major Items of the Lord’s Recovery Today,” pp. 19-21

«　WEEK 8　DAY 2　»

　　Psa. 73:16-17 When I considered this in order to understand it, it was a troublesome task in my sight, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end.

　　When we come together, our intention may be to pray, to worship, to serve, to hear a message, to be taught, to be exhorted, to be strengthened, to be comforted, and to be encouraged. This is our understanding. Actually, with our meetings there are so many wonderful things underneath the surface. We gain a lot of benefits and profit that we do not realize by participating in the meetings. (CWWL, 1982, vol. 1, “Experiencing Christ as the Offerings for the Church Meetings,” p. 488)

　　In Psalm 73:17 through 28 we see that the psalmist obtained the solution in the sanctuary of God….First, God’s sanctuary, His habitation, is in our spirit. Second, God’s sanctuary is the church. Thus, to go into the sanctuary of God, we need to turn to our spirit and then go to the meetings of the church. Once we are in the sanctuary—in the spirit and in the church—we will have another view, a particular perception, of the situation concerning the wicked. (Life-study of the Psalms, p. 354)

　　There is only one way to reconcile Psalms 1 and 73, and it is presented to us in Psalm 73:17….The sanctuary of God is the place where we may obtain the revelation we need. The sanctuary here undoubtedly signifies the dwelling place of God. Our spirit today is God’s dwelling place. Even more, the local churches are God’s dwelling place. Hence, we must turn to our spirit, and we must turn to the local church; then we will be clear. Our spirit and the local church are the places where we receive divine revelation, where we obtain the explanation to all our problems.

　　What did [the psalmist] perceive? Verse 25 says, “Whom do I have in heaven but You? / And besides You there is nothing I desire on earth.” He realized that God was working to deprive him of all material things so that he might enjoy God in such an absolute way. This is the revelation. Why do the wicked prosper and their riches continually increase? It is because God has given them up; He simply lets them go on their own way. They have nothing whatever to do with the enjoyment of God. But God’s intention with the seeking saints is to remove all material blessings and all physical enjoyments in order that they may find everything in God. Nothing in heaven or on earth can be their enjoyment but God Himself. It was by the psalmist’s experience, as recorded in the first part of Psalm 73, that he could eventually assert, “Whom do I have in heaven but You? / And besides You there is nothing I desire on earth.” He received revelation. He learned why God would not allow the seeking saints to prosper as the worldlings do. God intends that nothing should distract us from the absolute enjoyment of Himself. Eventually, it is not a matter of merely keeping the law, but of seeking God absolutely. It is not a matter of doing good or evil, right or wrong—if you are concerned about that, you are still occupied with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is a matter of seeking God, obtaining God, possessing God. It is a matter of experiencing God to the extent that you also can say, “Whom do I have in heaven but You? / And besides You there is nothing I desire on earth.” In other words, “I do not care for anything but the tree of life; I do not care for anything other than God Himself.” This is Psalm 73. When the psalmist went into the sanctuary of God, he received this revelation and took God Himself as his all. How may we too have the experience of the psalmist in these verses? We must be in the spirit and in the local church, the sanctuary of God. Just by this one psalm we may see the difference between Book Three and Book One. There is a great improvement. It is not a matter of keeping the law or of being right or wrong, but of having God and of keeping God as everything. (CWWL, 1969, vol. 3, “Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms,” pp. 113-114)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 205-207; Life-study of the Psalms, msg. 30

«　WEEK 8　DAY 3　»

　　Col. 1:12 Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light.

　　1 Cor. 14:26 What then, brothers? Whenever you come together, each one has…

　　We are not aware of the influence Christianity has upon us. For example, every believer has the concept that they should attend a worship service. They may not use the phrase worship service, but they have this concept. They also have the concept that a worship service consists of singing hymns, praying, listening to the Scriptures, and listening to a sermon. If we do not drop this concept, every change that we make will be superficial.

　　Furthermore, due to the influence of Christianity we do not bear responsibility in the meetings. We know that there will be some brothers to lead the meeting. Therefore, we do not come to the meeting with a sense of responsibility. Our meetings should not be led by some designated brothers. If anyone is designated to lead the meeting, it should be everyone. All the brothers and the sisters who come to the meeting should bear responsibility for the meeting. (CWWL, 1970, vol. 3, “Being Delivered from Religious Rituals and Walking according to the Spirit,” p. 411)

　　The meetings are not for the responsible brothers. The meetings are for all the saints. Hence, the elders and co-workers should sit in the back rows. At the end of the meeting an elder can go to the front and give the announcements. The meeting is the responsibility of the saints, not the elders.

　　The concept that we attend a meeting but are not responsible for the meeting is a fundamental error. It is a ploy of Satan to render the members of the Body of Christ useless so that they cease to function. As members of the Body, we function mainly in the meetings (1 Cor. 14:26). We should never think that we have a “hidden” function, such as sweeping the floor, cleaning the windows, or visiting the saints, that excuses us from functioning in the meetings. These are good services, but they are not our main function. Our main function is to offer up our portion in the meetings. The main function of the members of a basketball team is to play basketball, not to run errands or buy sports shoes ….As Christians, we are members of Christ, and our most important service is to meet. The meetings are the best opportunity for us to exhibit Christ. As Christians, we are commissioned to exhibit Christ in the meetings. If our meetings do not exhibit Christ, they are a failure. Whether a local church is strong or weak depends on its meetings. If the meetings are good, the church is strong, but if the meetings are poor, the church is weak. We overlook the importance of the meetings because we have been blinded by Satan ….The church exists for the meetings. Our concept needs to be changed. We must understand that the meetings are the main place for Christians to function.

　　The way we function in the meetings depends on the way we live our life. First Corinthians says that Christ is the portion given to us by God (1:2), and Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God (v. 24), who became righteousness, sanctification, and redemption to us (v. 30). He is everything to us. Christ is the First and the Last. He is the first One raised from among the dead, and He is also the last Adam (15:20, 45). He is also the second man (v. 47). After He accomplished redemption, He became the life-giving Spirit so that we may be joined to Him as one spirit (v. 45; 6:17). Now we are learning to live by our mingled spirit. Our living is to experience and enjoy Christ in our spirit. This is to live by our spirit. Our meetings are an exhibition of this living. (CWWL, 1970, vol. 3, “Being Delivered from Religious Rituals and Walking according to the Spirit,” pp. 412-413)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1984, vol. 5, “Guidelines for the Propagation of the Lord’s Recovery,” ch. 3

«　WEEK 8　DAY 4　»

　　1 Tim. 1:4 Nor to give heed to myths and unending genealogies, which produce questionings rather than God’s economy, which is in faith.

　　Eph. 3:9 And to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God…

　　The center of the entire New Testament is God’s divine economy. God’s economy is God’s plan, His divine arrangement, to dispense Himself into His chosen people. Our going out to visit people by knocking on their doors is for this economy and should be linked with the divine economy,… linked to eternity, [and] linked to the heavenlies. (CWWL, 1987, vol. 2, “The God-ordained Way to Practice the New Testament Economy,” pp. 311-312)

　　According to Ephesians 4:16, the saints in the Body of Christ are categorized into two groups: “every joint of the rich supply” and “each one part.” The joints are the gifted persons—the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. The Body grows by being joined closely together through the joints and by being knit together through the operation in the measure of each one part….The Body of Christ is built up organically by causing itself to grow through the functions of the gifted persons and through the members who operate in their measure.

　　For this organic building to be realized, the gifted persons must do their best to perfect every saint. The co-workers and the elders who are taking care of the saints need to go to their homes …to teach them personally and directly, mouth to mouth, year round.

　　First of all, we ourselves have to dive into the Word to learn how to perfect ourselves. As we are being perfected ourselves, we can go to visit the saints house to house, day and night, in order to nourish them, cherish them, and teach them one by one, sometimes with tears. This will consummate in the perfecting of all the saints. They will all be enabled to speak. Each one part will operate in its own measure. Then all the saints will function, and there will be no clergy or laity among us. All the saints meeting with us will be perfected, equipped, and furnished to speak forth Christ. This will issue in the accomplishment of the Lord’s heart’s desire, the organic building up of the Body of Christ. (CWWL, 1986, vol. 3, “Elders’ Training, Book 9: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way (1),” pp. 119-120)

　　The church is the Body of Christ and the new man. It is not normal for only a small number of the members of a person’s body to function while all the rest are paralyzed. A normal man uses all his physical members ….Where is such a corporate man, comprising the living, active, functioning members of the Body of Christ, to fulfill the purpose of God?

　　The elders should spend time and energy to teach each one of the attendants of the group meetings. They need to go to each of the saints’ homes outside the group meeting…. Paul used both the day and the night [Acts 20:20, 31]. We mostly use our meeting time to contact the saints. We think that as long as we have attended every meeting, we have fulfilled our duty. But that is not the complete fulfilling of our duty. The fulfilling of our duty is also outside the meetings.

　　There is no way to carry out the God-ordained way except by the individual contact with people,… for their salvation, their feeding, their spiritual education, their equipping, and their perfecting. Within a period of one or two years, they should be able to do the same thing that we are doing in our service to the Lord….I hope that we would consider this fellowship seriously and have a full change in our concept and practice. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 1, “Elders’ Training, Book 11: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way (3),” pp. 215, 218)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1987, vol. 3, “The Scriptural Way to Meet and to Serve for the Building Up of the Body of Christ,” chs. 1, 3-7, 9, 20, 22, 26-27

«　WEEK 8　DAY 5　»

　　1 Cor. 14:23 If therefore the whole church comes together in one place…

　　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.

　　There is the gathering for edification by exercising the spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 14:26-35). In this kind of gathering,… there is not one special person doing a specific thing, but everyone is exercising the spiritual gifts. Each one may participate with the goal of building up and edifying others. First Corinthians 14:26 indicates that the gathering for edification by exercising the spiritual gifts is a gathering in mutuality. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 2205)

　　Has, used five times in 1 Corinthians 14:26, is the translation of the Greek word echo, a word widely used, with many meanings, three of which are the main ones: (1) to hold, to possess, to keep a certain thing; (2) to have a certain thing for enjoyment; (3) to have the means or power to do a thing. The first two meanings should be applied to the first three of the five things listed in this verse—a psalm, a teaching, a revelation—and the third meaning to the last two—a tongue and an interpretation of a tongue. This indicates that when we come to the church meeting, we should have something of the Lord to share with others, whether a psalm to praise the Lord, a teaching (of the teacher) to minister the riches of Christ to edify and nourish others, a revelation (of the prophet, v. 30) to give visions of God’s eternal purpose concerning Christ as God’s mystery and the church as Christ’s mystery, a tongue as a sign to the unbelievers (v. 22) that they may know and accept Christ, or an interpretation to make a tongue concerning Christ and His Body understandable. Before coming to the meeting, we should prepare ourselves for the meeting with things like these from the Lord and of the Lord, either through our experience of Him or through our enjoyment of His word and fellowship with Him in prayer. After coming into the meeting, we should not wait for inspiration; there is no need to wait. We should exercise our spirit and use our trained mind to function in presenting what we have been prepared with to the Lord for His glory and satisfaction and to the saints for their benefit—enlightening, nourishing, and building up.

　　This meeting in mutuality may be compared to the Feast of Tabernacles in ancient times. In that feast the children of Israel brought the produce of the good land, which they reaped from their labor on the land, to the feast and offered it to the Lord for His enjoyment and for mutual participation in fellowship with the Lord and with one another. We must labor on Christ, our good land, that we may reap some produce of His riches to bring to the church meeting to offer. Thus, the church meeting will be an exhibition of Christ in His riches and a mutual enjoyment of Christ shared by all the attendants with one another before God and with God for the building up of the saints and the church.

　　According to the New Testament, the church meeting is altogether a meeting in mutuality…. [In 1 Corinthians 14:26] there is not simply one or a few who function; on the contrary, all function in mutuality. Hebrews 10:25 encourages us not to stay away from the meetings but to be “exhorting one another.”… Mutuality, not individuality, should be prevailing.

　　A proper church meeting, therefore, must be unique in two things—in mutuality and in speaking, a speaking that is genuine, positive, nourishing, and edifying…. Every saint should have the equal right and opportunity to speak concerning Christ, to speak for Christ, and to speak forth Christ. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 2205-2207)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1986, vol. 3, “Elders’ Training, Book 9: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way (1),” chs. 1, 6-8; CWWN, vol. 30, “The Normal Christian Church Life,” ch. 9

«　WEEK 8　DAY 6　»

　　1 Cor. 14:24-25 But if all prophesy and some unbeliever or unlearned person enters, he is convicted by all, he is examined by all; the secrets of his heart become manifest; and so falling on his face, he will worship God, declaring that indeed God is among you.

　　31 For you can all prophesy one by one that all may learn and all may be encouraged.

　　Prophesying in 1 Corinthians 14 does not mean predicting. This is proved by verse 3, which says, “He who prophesies speaks building up and encouragement and consolation to men.”…To prophesy in 1 Corinthians 14 is to speak for the Lord, speak forth the Lord, and speak the Lord into others, ministering (dispensing) the Lord to others (vv. 3-5). As proper, growing believers whose spiritual gifts are being developed, we must speak the Lord into others every day. If we practice this every day, we will all have something to share when we come together for fellowship. This will be the fulfillment of 1 Corinthians 14:26—whenever we come together, each one has. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 4, “The Excelling Gift for the Building Up of the Church,” pp. 448-449)

　　With only one man speaking and the rest listening, a congregation can be built up, but the Body of Christ as an organism can never be built up. To build up the organic Body of Christ, all of us need to speak….One saint can speak for two minutes, another for five minutes, and another for three minutes.

　　Suppose that we have two hundred meeting together always with one speaker. Regardless of how good, how marvelous, and how excellent this speaker is, many would become tired of his speaking after two years…. Suppose that, on the other hand, two hundred meet together for ninety minutes, and everyone bears the responsibility to have something to speak for the Lord….This will be a refreshing meeting. Whenever a new one speaks, his speaking is especially fresh and refreshing. Everyone will say Amen to his speaking. To build every part of the Body of Christ, we all need to rise up to speak for the Lord.

　　Our church meetings should be a feast of the riches of Christ…. A feast is full of many different kinds of food…. If we had many kinds of dishes in a meeting, how wonderful that would be! None of us would get bored of such a meeting.

　　A meeting in which all the saints are speaking for the Lord is full of nourishing, cherishing, adjusting, and correcting. A brother may be in the meeting who has a habit that is not so fitting for the church life. With only one person speaking and the rest listening, a message may never be given that touches this brother’s habit. But if twenty or thirty saints speak in the meeting, eventually someone will speak something that touches this brother’s habit. Because many portions are presented in the meeting, many things can be touched. In such a meeting, the saints get corrected without anyone knowing. Furthermore, the saints get built up, supplied, furnished, and equipped. This is why the apostle Paul had the burden to stress prophesying.

　　In building up the Body of Christ, you are not excelling if you do not prophesy. Prophesying is the excelling gift for the building up of the Body of Christ.

　　Our prophesying is so that “all may learn” (1 Cor. 14:31). If we do not learn first, how can we say something for others to learn?…We learn to prophesy through experiences, by being equipped with the Word (2 Tim. 3:16-17), by praying unceasingly (1 Thes. 5:17-20), by praying ourselves into the Spirit, by living and walking by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25), and by practicing. If we do these things, we will learn to speak in a particular way for the Lord. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 4, “The Excelling Gift for the Building Up of the Church,” pp. 449-452)

　　Further Reading: Prophesying in the Church Meetings for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ (Outlines); CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “The Advance of the Lord’s Recovery Today,” chs. 6-7