Scripture Reading: Col. 2:19; Eph. 4:13, 15-16; 1 Cor. 3:6-7; 12:12; John 3:29-30a, 34

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　»

　　Col. 2:19 And not holding the Head, out from whom all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews, grows with the growth of God.

　　1:28 Whom we announce, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man full-grown in Christ.

　　The essence of the church is the divine life, which is the processed and dispensing Triune God. We all have been regenerated with this divine life. The church is now growing in this life, by this life, with this life, and through this life.

　　Christ is increasing, and God is increasing in the growth of life within the members of the organic Body of Christ…To grow is a matter of life, which is God Himself. As the Body of Christ, the church should not be deprived of Christ, who is the embodiment of God (Col. 2:9) as the source of life. By holding Christ, the Head, the church grows with the growth of God, with the increase of God as life. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “The Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ to Be the Organism of the Processed and Dispensing Triune God,” pp. 278, 287)

　　The genuine growth in life is to grow with the growth of God, that is, to grow with the increase of God, the addition of God. In Himself, God cannot and does not need to grow. He is eternal, perfect, and complete. However, there is the need for God to grow in us. We all need more of the increase, the addition, of God within us. We need to grow with the growth of God; that is, we need God to increase, to grow, in us.

　　God is rich in every way. He is rich in glory and in all the divine attributes. He is rich in love, kindness, mercy, light, life, power, and strength. God’s riches are endless. Now this rich God is adding Himself into us. God’s riches are the element and substance by which we grow. God is real, rich, and substantial, and we need to absorb Him.

　　Our God today is the processed, all-inclusive Spirit, and we have a spirit with which to absorb Him. Thus, we must exercise our spirit to stay in His presence to absorb Him. This takes time. Although we all have experienced absorbing the riches of God, our experience is not yet adequate. For this reason, we must spend more time to absorb Him. We should not spend so much time in our mind, emotion, and will, but spend more time in our spirit to adore the Lord, to praise Him, to offer thanks to Him, and to speak to Him freely. As we fellowship with Him in this way, we will absorb His riches, and He will add more of Himself into us. The more God is added into us, the more growth He gives to us. This is the way God causes the growth. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 3595)

　　The increase in the element of God determines how much the church is built up. If we have too much of the element of our self, we need to be shined upon and judged so that the element of our self may be killed and so that the element of God may increase. We must take care of this principle in all our service in the church. In our prayer with others, visitation of others, or fellowship with others after the meeting, our natural element must gradually decrease so that the divine element of God may gradually increase.

　　If there is not the element of God in a prayer meeting, there is a problem with that meeting. If our ways of visitation are the same year after year, it indicates that we are not growing…. In order to have service that builds up the church, we must learn to reject our natural element and let the element of God increase so that the divine life in us may grow. Only then can we manifest the function that joins us together and knits us together with others for the building up of the church. (CWWL, 1957, vol. 3, “Service for the Building Up of the Church,” pp. 468-469)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 356; CWWL, 1957, vol. 3, “Service for the Building Up of the Church,” ch. 6

«　WEEK 2　DAY 2　»

　　1 Cor. 3:6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.

　　Col. 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.

　　As members of the Body of Christ, we should drink the guileless milk of the word that we may grow. Then we must eat the solid food of the word so that we may grow even more. Our eating of the word causes us to grow in a strong way. The Word is full of food, but some get only knowledge according to the letter when they read the Bible.…Christ is our real food, and every page of the Bible is a description of this rich Christ. He is either expressed or implied throughout the whole Bible.…When we come to the Bible, we should come with a seeking heart after Christ. We should pray, “Lord, I come to Your Word. I do not care for teachings alone, but I care for You. Lord, feed me with Yourself through this Word.” (CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “The Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ to Be the Organism of the Processed and Dispensing Triune God,” p. 279)

　　The intrinsic growth of the church is through the giving of growth in life to the members of Christ by God (1 Cor. 3:6c). The gifted ones may do the planting and the watering, but it is God who gives the growth in life. This is why I must always take some time to pray before I come to speak in a meeting. I pray that the Lord would be one with me and infuse me with Himself so that whatever I speak would be in Him. I believe that He has richly answered these prayers because quite often, as I am speaking, I feel supplied within to speak with new light and instant utterance.

　　We need the feeding from the Bible directly, and we need the watering from the ones who know the Bible more. God goes along with our reading of the Word and with the speaking of the gifted members to give us the growth.…When we get into the Word, we are feeding. When we get under the speaking of the word, we receive the watering. Then God gives the growth.

　　The intrinsic growth of the church is by God’s growing in the believers (Col. 2:19). We were reborn by the divine life, which is God Himself. Now we are being fed and watered, and God is causing us to grow. This growth is God Himself growing in us (v. 19). When God gives us the growth in life, this means that He is increasing Himself within us. As we are feeding on the Word, and as we are being watered by the gifted ones, God Himself is moving and growing within us.

　　The last part of Colossians 2:19 tells us that the Body “grows with the growth of God.” We grow by God’s growing within us. Of course, God in Himself is not growing, because He is complete and perfect. His growing is within us, and how much He grows within us depends on how much room we will give to Him to grow. We may be full of the world, of ourselves, of our own interests, but by reading the Bible, little by little the word of the Bible takes away some part of our worldliness, some part of our self-interest, and some part of our love for things other than God Himself. Then within us more room is given to God; He takes this room and expands and increases within us. This increase is His growth in us. His growth becomes our growth because we and He are one. The growth of the church is God’s growth in the church. By our feeding on the Word and being watered by the gifted members, the negative things within us are taken away, and there is more room for the very God who dwells in us. When He gets more room, He grows within us. This issues in the church’s organic growth. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “The Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ to Be the Organism of the Processed and Dispensing Triune God,” pp. 284-286)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “The Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ to Be the Organism of the Processed and Dispensing Triune God,” ch. 2

«　WEEK 2　DAY 3　»

　　Eph. 1:22-23 …The church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.

　　3:8 To me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel.

　　The Body is not merely a composition of a group of the called-out ones; the Body is the fullness of Christ. The Body is not only the expression of Christ but also the fullness of Christ. How does this fullness come into being? It is by your receiving the riches of Christ into you to be enjoyed and assimilated by you and even to become you. We may compare this to eating fish, chicken, and bread. After about five or six hours, they are digested into you to become you. It is at this time that you are the fullness. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man,” p. 284)

　　I have eaten a great amount of the riches of Taiwan, and these riches have been assimilated into me and have become me. Now, therefore, I can stand here full of life and energy. This is the fullness. The church is the fullness of Christ.

　　[The] universal Christ, the Christ who fills all things, the Christ who is both in the heavens and on the earth, needs a Body to be His fullness. When He was on earth as Jesus the Nazarene, He could not be in Judea at the same time that He was in Galilee, nor could He be in Jerusalem when He was in Samaria. This was because He was a small Jesus,… limited by His flesh….Today He has risen from the dead and ascended to the heavens, so He fills all things. He can be in the heavens and on the earth simultaneously; He can be in one place in the heavens, and at the same time He can be in millions of places on the earth. He is such a One who fills all things, so He needs a great Body as His fullness. Thus, today we can say that because He has such a great Body on earth, He is in heaven and He is also in Taipei, in Hong Kong, in Manila, in Singapore, in London, in Germany, in the United States, in Africa, in North America, and in South America. His Body is everywhere. What is this Body? It is…His universal fullness.

　　The Body is the fullness of Christ. In doctrine the church is the Body, but as to reality there is still a question of how much element of the Body is there. Brothers and sisters, we should not condemn others; we must see our own condition. At this time we all must confess in the light of the Lord that even we ourselves up to this day may live only thirty percent by the Spirit, leaving seventy percent that we live by ourselves.…The Lord does not merely need a church in each locality; He needs a Body. As soon as we do not live by Christ, as soon as we are not living by the Spirit, we are not the Body. In name we are still the church, but in reality we are not the Body. Why? Because the Body is the fullness of Christ.

　　Do not forget the word is in Ephesians 1:23: “[The church] is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” This means that the church is the Body, and the Body is the fullness. These two levels of “is” are in succession rather than in parallel. It is not that on the one hand the church is the Body, while on the other hand the church is the fullness. Rather, it is that the church is the Body, and the Body is the fullness. According to doctrine, the fullness equals the Body, and the Body equals the church. But according to reality, a man can be in the church and still not live in the Body. All the brothers and sisters who meet in Hong Kong are in the church, but who is living in the Body?… Strictly speaking, that which can fulfill God’s eternal purpose is not the church in name but the Body. The Body is the fullness of Christ. I repeat that if you look from this angle and measure with this yardstick, you will see that today on earth in the churches there is not much of the element of the Body. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man,” pp. 284, 286, 288-289)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man,” chs. 3-4, 6

«　WEEK 2　DAY 4　»

　　Eph. 4:13 Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

　　15 But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ.

　　[Ephesians 4:13 says that we] are to arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. The fullness of Christ is the Body of Christ (1:23), which has a stature with a measure. The fullness of Christ is simply the expression of Christ. As Christ’s fullness, the Body is Christ’s expression. Christ’s fullness, the Body, has a stature, and with this stature there is a certain measure. Hence, 4:13 speaks of the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

　　To arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ is to arrive at the full building up of the Body of Christ. It is to arrive at the full completion of the building up of the Body. (Life-study of Ephesians, p. 370)

　　Ephesians 1 reveals that the Body of Christ is the fullness of Christ, and chapter 4, that the fullness of Christ has a stature. Therefore, the stature of the fullness of Christ is the stature of the Body of Christ.

　　In 4:13 Paul speaks not only of the stature of the fullness of Christ, but of the measure of that stature. As the Body of Christ, the church has stature. Because this stature grows, 4:13 speaks of its measure. This measure is the full-grown man. In many believers the stature of the fullness of Christ has not grown very much…. But as Christ grows within them, they will gradually increase unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. We need to press on until we all arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

　　Presently we are on the way toward a full-grown man, toward the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. The day is coming when we shall all arrive at a full-grown man. Until then, we are still in the process. Because we are in the process, Paul speaks of the time when we shall “be no longer little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching” (4:14).

　　As the Body of Christ, the church is the fullness that is daily growing within us. It is vital for us all to see that the church is an organism that comes out of Christ. Anything that is not of Christ cannot be part of the church. No matter how disciplined, regulated, or improved we may be, none of this is of the church if it does not issue out of Christ. Self-regulation, self-discipline, and self-improvement may produce an excellent society, but it cannot produce the church. As far as the Body of Christ is concerned, nothing that we have in ourselves has any significance. In relation to the Body, natural goodness is of no advantage. Whether we are good or evil, we still need Christ. Those who are evil surely need Christ. But those who are very good need Christ just as much. No matter what kind of disposition we may have, our natural being needs to be swallowed up and even consumed by the indwelling Christ. Then in reality we shall be the Body of Christ, His fullness.

　　John 1:16 says, “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” What is important is not that we merely learn about Christ or that we imitate Christ, but that we receive of His fullness…. If we daily receive of His fullness, we shall eventually become His fullness, for we shall be constituted according to what we have received. This means that the more we receive of His fullness, the more we shall be constituted of His fullness and become His fullness. If we see this, we shall say, “Lord, save me from anything that is not Your fullness. Lord, I am willing to pay any price to enjoy You and to partake of Your fullness.” May the Lord be merciful to us that we may daily experience Him and enjoy Him and thereby become the church that is His very fullness, His overflow. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 690-691)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Ephesians, msgs. 1, 43,45, 82

«　WEEK 2　DAY 5　»

　　John 3:29-30 He who has the bride is the bridegroom….He must increase, but I must decrease.

　　34 For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for He gives the Spirit not by measure.

　　The bride, produced by regeneration and taken by Christ as the Bridegroom, is the increase, the enlargement, of Christ. (Hence, the bride as the increase of Christ is also Christ Himself as 1 Corinthians 12:12 says that the Body of Christ is also Christ.) Christ gives the Spirit not by measure and, as the immeasurable One, gives eternal life (the unlimited life) to His believers (John 3:29-30, 34, 36).…Christ increases by regenerating the redeemed sinners, making them His bride, His wife. This bride is Christ’s increase. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” p. 381)

　　Adam and Eve are a type of Christ with His increase…. Eve was Adam’s increase, and through his wife Adam has billions of descendants, who are also his increase…. Not only the wife but also all the children are the increase of the husband.

　　In order for Christ to increase, we need to contact people individually to get them regenerated. We should not take the way of big speakers gathering big congregations in order to gain people. We have to contact people individually, one by one. Then gradually and steadily with the proper care, we as their parents should feed, nourish, and cherish them day by day through the vital groups. In this way Christ will increase continually. Each of us must be in a small group to produce new spiritual children.

　　John the Baptist said that he should decrease and that Christ should increase. We should all desire to see Christ increasing and ourselves decreasing. For this we need to speak the Lord’s word. The real intrinsic significance of speaking the word of God is to spread God. When we speak the holy Word, the truth, the divine revelation, we spread God. Christ speaks God through us, His members, by defining God, explaining God, and eventually expressing God. To express God is to spread God. Christ is the One who speaks the words of God and who gives the Spirit not by measure (John 3:34). When someone receives His words, the Spirit follows to be the reality of what is spoken. Christ increases Himself by speaking God’s word to spread God and by giving the Spirit of God to be the reality of what He spoke in order to dispense the eternal life into people, making them Godkind, the children of God, the species of God, the family of God, to be Christ’s increase. This is how Christ becomes the increasing Christ. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” pp. 381-382)

　　As the Apostle, God’s sent One and Ambassador, Christ speaks the word of God. The word Christ speaks is the rhema, the word that is spirit and life. Many of us can testify that when we handle the Word of God properly by exercising our spirit, the word that comes into us becomes spirit, and when it becomes spirit, it also becomes life. When the word is spoken, it is still the word. But after it comes into us, the word becomes spirit and life. Then as we speak out [that] word,… it once again becomes the word. After such a word enters into someone else, it again becomes spirit and life. In this way God, who is Himself Spirit and life, is spoken into us. By this means God’s essence is spoken into our being.

　　The word of the Lord Jesus is actually the essence of God. Therefore, when this word enters our being, God’s essence comes into our being. This essence is the Spirit. If we receive the word [rhema] and are filled with the Spirit, we will enjoy eternal life. The result is that we become the bride, the universal increase of the unlimited Christ. (CWWL, 1982, vol. 2, “The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John,” pp. 157, 163)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” msg. 5; Life-study of John, msgs. 8-10

«　WEEK 2　DAY 6　»

　　John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

　　6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

　　John 3:30 speaks of Christ’s increase. This increase is the multiplication and reproduction of Christ. It is important for us to know that the regenerated part of our being is the reproduction, the multiplication, of Christ. This increase of Christ is His bride.

　　Our natural life and living are not part of the increase of Christ. For example, if you speak in a natural, joking manner, you are not living as part of Christ’s increase. On the contrary, that way of speaking is part of the serpentine being, and the serpentine being cannot be part of Christ’s bride, His increase. Only the regenerated part of our being, our regenerated spirit, is Christ’s increase. (CWWL, 1982, vol. 2, “The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John,” p. 150)

　　According to John 3:34, Christ as the One sent by God speaks the words of God. The Greek word translated “words” is rhema, which refers to the instant and present spoken word. It differs from logos, which refers to the constant word, as in John 1:1. In John 6:63…the Greek word rhema is used. The Spirit is living and real but rather mysterious and intangible and difficult for us to comprehend. But the Lord’s words are substantial. First, the Lord indicated that for giving life, He would become the Spirit. Then He said that the words He speaks are spirit and life. This shows that His spoken words are the embodiment of the life-giving Spirit. He is now the life-giving Spirit in resurrection, and the Spirit is embodied in His words. When we receive His words by exercising our spirit, we receive the Spirit who is life.

　　In the New Testament God speaks through only one person, and that person is His Son [Heb. 1:1-2a]…. All the New Testament ministers of the Word are part of God’s speaking in the Son. Paul’s speaking in his ministry, for example, was part of this speaking of God in His Son.

　　In our speaking we desire to be one spirit with Christ, the Son of God. Often before I minister the Word, I pray, “Lord, be one spirit with me in my speaking. Lord, I want to practice being one spirit with You in the speaking of Your word.” If I do not have the assurance that I am one spirit with the Lord, I do not have any desire to speak. To be one spirit with the Lord in our speaking of the word means that we are truly in the Son of God. All the genuine speakers of the divine word of the New Testament are part of God’s speaking in the Son. Today God the Father speaks in the Son, and the Son includes all the New Testament ministers of the Word.

　　What are we doing as we carry on the ministry of the Word? We are speaking God into people. We are speaking the divine essence into others. Many of us can testify that as a result of listening to the genuine ministry of the Word, we receive the essence of God….Then after the word has been received by us, it becomes spirit and life in us. The Spirit is actually the essence of God becoming the very life within us.…The word in our ministry must be the very essence of our God.

　　The unique way for us to become the universal increase of the unlimited Christ is to receive the Spirit and be filled with the Spirit. The more we have of the Spirit, the more we will be Christ’s increase. This increase begins with our regeneration, and it consummates with our being filled with the immeasurable Spirit. (CWWL, 1982, vol. 2, “The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John,” pp. 156-158, 161)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1982, vol. 2, “The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John,” chs. 6-7, 9, 11-13