Outline

«　WEEK 2　DAY 6　»

　　Eph. 3:17 That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love.

　　1 Cor. 3:12 But if anyone builds upon the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, stubble.

　　Our work in the recovery today is to minister God to people. Yes, we need to save sinners and to feed the saints and perfect them. The crucial matter, however, is that we minister God to others. The God whom we minister is not just the building God—He is also the builded God. If we fail to minister God in this way, our work will be wood, grass, and stubble (1 Cor. 3:12).

　　I would ask you to reconsider the work you are doing for the Lord. Perhaps you have opened up a region or have brought many people to God. But I ask you this question: How much of Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God has been wrought into those whom you have brought to God? If we are sincere and genuine, we will humble ourselves and confess that not very much of the Triune God has been wrought into the ones we have brought to God. Therefore, we need to practice one thing—to minister the processed Triune God into others so that He may build Himself into their inner man. In every aspect of our work—preaching the gospel, feeding the believers, perfecting the saints—the intrinsic element must be that we minister the building and builded God to others. I would urge you to pray that the Lord would teach you to work in this way. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, pp. 202-203)

　　After Noah received the revelation, he believed it and practiced it (Gen. 6:22). He practiced it in a way of not caring about being different from his forefathers and from his generation. Perhaps people said to him, “Noah, what are you doing?…What are you talking about, telling us that a flood will come? What do you mean by building an ark?”

　　The principle is the same today. We are following God’s revelation that is according to the Bible in order to practice the church life; however, most Christians lack this revelation. God’s revelation will always make you different. Daniel and his three companions were different, for they refused to eat the royal food. Paul was different, and so was Martin Luther. Everyone who has seen God’s revelation is different. The revelation makes him different…It is good to be different.

　　Now we must consider Noah’s work. First, Noah worked in preaching righteousness (2 Pet. 2:5)…In Noah’s day preaching righteousness was to protest against the evil generation. His generation was evil and filled with violence, but Noah was a man who preached righteousness and protested against all the unrighteousness, evil, and violence. He testified of the righteous way of God.

　　While Noah was preaching righteousness, he was building the ark. In principle, we are doing the same thing…Noah built the ark by faith according to God’s revelation (Heb. 11:7). He did not construct it according to tradition or his own concept and invention but absolutely according to God’s revelation. This is the reason that in everything we must return to God’s revelation in His holy Word. We must come back to the pure Word of God.

　　The building of the ark was absolutely against the tide of Noah’s generation. He was against the trend of that age, and “he condemned the world” (Heb. 11:7)…The work of Noah and his family was unique, peculiar, and strange. In human eyes it was impractical. It was according to God’s revelation, and thus, it was against the trend and tide of that generation. Do you not think that the principle is the same today? What we are preaching and doing is altogether against the tide of this generation. But we praise the Lord that we are in His flow. We are not in the tide of this generation; we are in the flow from the throne according to His revelation. (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 395-397)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, msg. 30