Scripture Reading: John 21:15-17; Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2, 4; Eph.4:16

DAY 1 & DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 & DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 6　DAY 1　»

　　John 10:10-11 …I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly. I am the good Shepherd; the good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

　　16 And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must lead them also, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock, one Shepherd.

　　In [John 10:10-11] two different Greek words are used for life. In verse 10 the Greek word is zoe, which is the word used in the New Testament for the eternal, divine life. In verse 11 the Greek word is psuche, the same word for soul, which means the soulish life, that is, the human life. These two verses indicate that the Lord Jesus has two kinds of life. As a man, the Lord has the psuche life, the human life, and as God, He has the zoe life, the divine life. He laid down His soul, His psuche life, His human life, to accomplish redemption for His sheep (vv. 15, 17-18) that they may share His zoe life, His divine life (v. 10), the eternal life (v. 28), by which they can be formed into one flock under Himself as the one Shepherd. As the good Shepherd, He feeds His sheep with the divine life in this way and for this purpose. (Life-study of John, pp. 250-251)

　　The Lord’s divine life could never be slain. What was slain in His crucifixion was His human life. In order to be our Savior, He, as a man, laid down His human life to accomplish redemption for us that we might receive His zoe life. He laid down His human life in order that we, after being redeemed, might receive His zoe life, the eternal life.

　　The Shepherd, the divine life, and the human life are all for the flock. In John 10:16…who are the sheep that are not of this Jewish fold? They are the Gentiles. And what is this one flock? The one flock signifies the one church, the one Body of Christ (Eph. 2:14-16; 3:6), brought forth by the Lord’s eternal, divine life, which He imparted into His members through His death (John 10:10-18)…The sheepfold was, and still is, Judaism, but the flock is the church. The flock is the church, which includes two peoples—the believing Jews and Gentiles. The Lord brought both together into one flock and under one Shepherd. Now, the one flock and the one Shepherd are the one Body and the one Head.

　　Why are the Shepherd, the divine life, and the human life all for the flock? Because the people in the flock are fallen persons in need of redemption. As a man, the Shepherd had the human life. He sacrificed His human life in order to accomplish redemption for His flock. In this way His flock was redeemed. Then His flock received His divine life, and by this divine life the sheep live together as the flock. Thus, the flock is formed into one unit, into one entity. This is not accomplished by the human life but by the divine life.

　　In the divine life we are all one entity, meaning that we are one flock under one Shepherd in one life. If we live by our human life and not by the divine life, we will only cause trouble. Furthermore, we will become strangers and stray away from the flock…A sheep is a regenerated person with the divine life. We all must live by the divine life and thus become genuine, real, and pure sheep. Then we will all be in the flock… If we do not live by the divine life, there can be no flock. The flock is produced, kept, maintained, and formed by the divine life. How good it is for brothers to dwell in unity (Psa. 133:1). However, dwelling in unity simply means to dwell in the divine life…We receive this zoe life through the redemption accomplished by our Shepherd who laid down His psuche life. He sacrificed His psuche life to accomplish redemption for us all that we might receive Him as our zoe life. Now we are in the zoe life under one Shepherd to be one flock. (Life-study of John, pp. 251-252)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” ch. 13

«　WEEK 6　DAY 2　»

　　1 Pet. 2:25 For you were like sheep being led astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

　　Heb. 13:20 Now the God of peace, He who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, in the blood of an eternal covenant.

　　Christ was our Redeemer in His death on the tree. Now He is our soul’s Shepherd and Overseer in the resurrection life within us. Therefore, He is able to guide us and supply us with life that we may follow in His steps according to the model of His suffering (1 Pet. 2:21). According to verse 25, Christ is the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. Our soul is our inner being, our real person. Our Lord, as the Shepherd and Overseer of our soul, shepherds us by caring for the welfare of our inner being and by exercising His oversight over the condition of our real person. (Life-study of 1 Peter, p. 190)

　　Christ our Shepherd takes care of the needs of our soul…He is the Shepherd of our soul, our inner being. We all have a spirit, and the spirit is our inward organ. But our being is a soul,…our mind, emotion, and will.

　　Unbelievers are wanderers in the soul, and they do not have a shepherd to take care of them. But our situation is different in that we have a Shepherd who takes care of our soul. Not only do we have the Lord’s life within us, but we also have Him as our Shepherd. He is now shepherding us in our soul.

　　Consider this matter of the Lord’s shepherding according to your experience…Where is the Lord’s comfort, in our spirit or in our soul?…Many times we speak of turning to the spirit, perhaps expecting that when we turn to the spirit, everything will be all right. Actually, even after we turn to the spirit, many things may not be all right. From experience Peter knew to say that Christ is the Shepherd of our souls. Therefore, Peter does not tell us in 1 Peter 2:25 that Christ is the Shepherd of our spirit or of our body; he clearly says that He is the Shepherd of our souls.

　　Because it is our soul that suffers, it is our soul that needs the Lord’s shepherding. It is not our body that needs this kind of care, nor is it mainly our spirit. It is our soul—our mind, our emotion, and our will—that needs the Lord as the Shepherd.

　　In our experience sometimes we just do not know what to think about. We do not know where to direct our thoughts. This is an indication that our mind needs the Lord Jesus as the Shepherd. I can testify that many times in this kind of situation the Lord Jesus has been a Shepherd to me. As a result of His shepherding, our mind is directed and set in the right way.

　　Our emotion, being complicated, is easily upset. This is especially true of the sisters’ emotion. Therefore, we need the Lord Jesus to shepherd us in our emotion. His shepherding comforts our emotion.

　　Our will also needs the Lord’s shepherding. As human beings, we often find it difficult to make the right decision. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to make a decision. Unbelievers have no one to lead them and guide them in making decisions. But we have a Shepherd to lead us and guide us. The Lord’s leading and guiding are primarily related to our will. As the living Shepherd, the Lord continually directs our will…The Lord is truly the Shepherd of our soul. He directs our mind, comforts our emotion, and leads and guides our will.

　　According to my experience, there is a difference between leading and guiding. Leading is related to a destination. Suppose you are driving from your home to a certain city. A road map may lead you to your destination. But once you arrive at that city, you will need a guide, someone to direct you to the exact place where you want to go. In the Bible some verses speak of the Lord’s leading, and others, of His guiding. On the one hand, the Lord will lead His people to the Holy Land. But once He has led them there, He will guide them to Mount Zion. (Life-study of 1 Peter, pp. 190-192)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The God-man Living,” ch. 2

«　WEEK 6　DAY 3　»

　　Eph. 4:11-12 And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

　　Today man’s need is the release of our inner man, that is, the release of our spirit. This is the only way men will receive supply from us…How can we separate the outer man from the inner man?…The Gospel of John says that except a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit (12:24). If those who follow the Lord would lose their soul-life, they would gain life…Those who are tried before the Lord and whose outer man is broken will be able to release their inner life; they will bear much fruit. (CWWN, vol. 59, pp. 5-6)

　　The eldership is responsible to take care of the whole church. According to the New Testament, all the elders should be shepherds who care for the church as the Lord’s flock (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:1-2). First Timothy 3:2 says that the elders should be apt to teach. In the New Testament to teach is to shepherd. In Ephesians 4:11 the shepherds and teachers are one class. In order to shepherd others, we need to know how to teach.

　　Teaching people is not a matter of teaching doctrine but of ministering the life supply to them. When a shepherd takes care of a flock, he does not mainly teach the flock. Actually, the flock does not need much teaching. What the flock needs is feeding for nourishment. In the church the elders’ main responsibility is to feed the saints, to minister the life supply to the saints (John 21:15-17).

　　Many saints consider shepherding a rendering of some kind of help to the saints. According to their concept, those who shepherd are higher than those who are under their shepherding. Actually, this is a wrong concept. The proper shepherding is not to rule over others but to minister life to them (1 Pet. 5:3). Concerning the elders, their main responsibility is to minister life.

　　The elders must spend much time with the Lord to pray for the church, to pray for the saints, and to find a way to feed them, to nourish them, to minister life to them. If this can be done, every local church will be healthy. In some places certain elders are very capable in administrating the church, but they are weak in shepherding, that is, in feeding the saints. In such a situation the church cannot be healthy, living, rich, and strong, because the saints are lacking in nourishment.

　　Primarily, the elders need to exercise to learn the spiritual things so that they will be able to teach the saints in the way of shepherding, not merely to give the saints instructions but to feed them. The elders need to teach the saints with the nourishing word so that the saints may grow in life (1 Tim. 4:6). This is absolutely a matter of life…The elders must pay their full attention to one thing, that is, to feeding the saints.

　　Today the greatest need is shepherding. In this matter we are very weak. Therefore, we need to be encouraged to exercise ourselves to become experienced, equipped, and furnished so that we may know how to shepherd the whole church.

　　The Lord’s only expectation of the elders is that they would shepherd the flock…In Acts 20, when Paul called the elders in Ephesus to come to him, he charged them to shepherd the flock (v. 28). Peter held the same concept. He exhorted the elders to shepherd the flock of God among them (1 Pet. 5:1-2)… The main thing in shepherding a flock is to feed the flock. We are weak in this point; among us not many elders are able to feed others. Today the elders in the churches mainly take care of administrative affairs. The lack of shepherding is the main reason that the churches are not growing as they should. All the elders must take the matter of shepherding seriously. They need to be exercised, equipped, and furnished so that they may be able to feed others by ministering the life supply to them. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 2, pp. 481-483)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1977, vol. 2, pp. 481-491

«　WEEK 6　DAY 4　»

　　1 Pet. 5:2 Shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing not under compulsion but willingly, according to God…

　　Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but only that which is good for building up, according to the need, that it may give grace to those who hear.

　　In his first Epistle, Peter speaks of Christ being the Shepherd and Overseer of our soul, our inner being and real person (2:25). Then in 5:1-2 he tells the elders that their obligation is to shepherd God’s flock according to God. According to God means that we must live God. We must have God on hand. We have God in our understanding, in our theology, and in our teaching, but we may not live God when we are shepherding people. When we are one with God, we become God. Then we have God and are God in our shepherding of others. To shepherd according to God is to shepherd according to what God is in His attributes. God is love, light, holiness, and righteousness.. We must shepherd the young ones, the weak ones, and the backsliding ones according to these four attributes. Then we will be good shepherds.

　　If we want to enjoy life and minister life to others, we must shepherd them. The real ministering of life is shepherding by visiting and contacting people. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” pp. 114-115)

　　Years ago I thought that the overseeing was to observe who is wrong and who is right, who is doing well and who is doing poorly. Later, I came to realize that to oversee is mainly a matter of overseeing the need…[A shepherd’s] oversight is related to protecting the flock, leading the flock, and feeding the flock.

　　As Peter says, the elders should oversee “willingly, according to God” [1 Pet. 5:2]. To oversee according to God means according to God’s nature, desire, way, and glory, not according to man’s preference, interest, and purpose. The elders should not oversee according to their opinion, concept, or likes or dislikes. Instead, they should oversee according to God’s choice, desire, intention, and preference. The elders must oversee the church altogether according to God’s thought, feeling, will, and choice. They must oversee according to God’s likes and dislikes.

　　In 5:2 Peter warns the elders not to seek gain through base means but to eagerly exercise oversight. This means that the elders should not take advantage of the eldership and use it as a means to gain money. They should eagerly take the oversight like parents who eagerly exercise care over their children. (Life-study of 1 Peter, pp. 290-292)

　　How much we can help these members [who have a peculiar, stubborn disposition] depends on how much our own disposition has been dealt with. The Lord uses their disposition as a mirror to reflect our disposition. We may say that their problem is their disposition, but the Lord may ask us, “How about your disposition?”…If our disposition has been dealt with by the Lord, they will know this…This will help them to allow their disposition to be dealt with…Today the church in our place is tender and fresh, but after a number of years the peculiar dispositions of some of the saints will be manifested. Whether we can help them depends on how much we have allowed the Lord to touch our disposition.

　　Fellowshipping with brothers and coordinating with them may help us to get out of our disposition. We may receive help simply by following the brothers with whom we are coordinating…Most people with strong dispositions think that they are smarter than others. They think that they have more insight and more foresight than others. Thus, they do not trust in others, and as a consequence, they do not follow others…This kind of person may be helped by simply following others.

　　In order for us to help people to be dealt with in their disposition, we must take the lead to have our disposition dealt with. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 2, pp. 487-489)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” ch. 7

«　WEEK 6　DAY 5　»

　　John 21:15 …Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My lambs.

　　17…And he said to Him, Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You. Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep.

　　Some may argue that shepherding is a gift that not every brother or sister has. However,…every parent, regardless of how smart or foolish he is, has a talent for raising children. Child raising is not a special talent; it is a talent given by birth. In the same way, by our spiritual birth every member in the church has the gift of shepherding…Some think that because they are too young and are not pastors, elders, or experienced Christians, they cannot shepherd others. This is a wrong understanding and concept…Someone may not know how to raise children, but when the children come, they are forced to learn…Even someone who has been saved for only a few days can learn to shepherd. (CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 2, “The Normal Way of Fruit-bearing and Shepherding for the Building Up of the Church,” p. 609)

　　We need to build up a daily life of the gospel, and we need to go to the Lord for Him to show us who should be under the care of our shepherding. If these two matters are built up in the church, we will have a normal, proper church. A normal church is not merely one in which the members stand to speak something in the meetings. This is only a small part of our service. The main part of the service in the church is a daily gospel life and shepherding…We should realize that it is a great lack and a shame not to bear fruit each year and have someone under our care. All the members in the churches should bear fruit and shepherd people all the time. If we build up these items, the church will be wonderful. The Lord’s way is always the best and wisest way. His way is to depend not on spiritual giants but on every member, on those who have a daily gospel life with shepherding. We all need a change of concept in this regard.

　　More than thirty years ago, I came together every Monday morning with a group of serving ones from 8:0 A.M. until the afternoon to mutually learn how to shepherd people. After meeting for three years in this way, there was a great revival in that locality. This was not due to a movement. It came out spontaneously because of the building up among us. The gospel preaching and the shepherding were adequate and prevailing. This is what the churches need today.

　　In order to adequately shepherd people, we must not be too quick. Our quick disposition needs to go. We cannot shepherd someone by speaking to them for only a few minutes. Therefore, we must be prepared to spend enough time with people.

　　Although we should not be too quick, we must be very positive. Very often, positive persons are quick ones, and slow persons are passive, even sloppy and uncaring. If a brother says, “Let us go to visit someone,” a passive one may say, “We should not be so quick. Let us wait for another two weeks.” However, if mothers care for their little ones in this passive way, their children will not survive. We should not be too quick, but we must be positive and on time.

　　We must learn how to listen to others in order to realize their true need and real situation. This requires us to stop our own thought, concept, feeling, and speaking while we are shepherding them. We should be open to others and allow their situation to speak to us. This is not easy; it means that we must be positive but not quick. We should not say too much or make a decision too quickly. Rather, we should stop ourselves and listen to the person under our care, allowing him to say something, trying our best to understand him, and putting ourselves in his place to understand his situation in the same way that he does. (CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 2, “The Normal Way of Fruit-bearing and Shepherding for the Building Up of the Church,” pp. 609-611)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 2, “The Normal Way of Fruit-bearing and Shepherding for the Building Up of the Church,” ch. 8

«　WEEK 6　DAY 6　»

　　1 Cor. 12:24 …God has blended the body together, giving more abundant honor to the member that lacked.

　　Eph. 4:16 Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.

　　We must learn to minister life to others. In order to do this, we ourselves must have life…We must learn the lessons of life. Then we will know how to minister to others. In fact, if we have life, there is no need to purposely minister life to others. Life will already be ministered to them.

　　We should not try to wrongly impress people that we have the way to do things, that we are smart, or that we know everything. Rather, we should simply help people to put their trust in the Lord and depend on Him for everything. To this end, we should bring with us a spirit and atmosphere of prayer to help others to come into a prayer life. We need to create an atmosphere so that whatever happens to people, they will pray, look to the Lord, and rely on Him for His presence and clear leading…If we ourselves are not persons with a prayer life, we will not be able to build up others as this kind of person. We ourselves need to take the lead. (CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 2, “The Normal Way of Fruit-bearing and Shepherding for the Building Up of the Church,” pp. 613-614)