THE FOURTH PART: THE PATHWAY OF THE LORD’S RECOVERY

God-ordained Way
Message Ten—Carrying Out the Vital Groups According to the Divine Revelation in the Lord’s Recovery

Scripture Reading: Acts 2:46-47; Matt. 18:19-20; John 15:16; Eph. 6:18; 4:12-16; Heb. 10:24-25

I. Vital groups are the lifeline of the God-ordained way; our desperate need today is to practice the new group meetings in the new way; without this it is very difficult for us to go on by gaining the increase—Acts 2:46-47:

A. After the time of the apostles the church became abnormal; this is the reason that we must move to form the vital groups—Acts 2:46-47:

1. The church today is below the normal level; we must admit honestly and with repentance that our church’s situation is below the normal level; therefore, we must do something to uplift the level of the church life.

2. If a Christian is uplifted and lives a life at the level portrayed in Brother Nee’s messages, he is no longer abnormal but is a normal Christian.

B. Three particular enemies which we have today are deadness, lukewarmness, and barrenness; we all have to hate deadness, lukewarmness, and barrenness—Rev. 3:1-2, 14-16; John 15:2a:

1. These three enemies are mainly toward the good Christians, toward the brothers and sisters who are regularly attending the meetings; we have to realize that deadness, lukewarmness, and barrenness are our habitual enemies.

2. The most crucial thing for us today is to be desperate to conquer the deadness of Sardis, the lukewarmness of Laodicea, and the barrenness dealt with by the Lord in John 15—Luke 11:8; Rev. 3:1-2, 14-16; John 15:2a.

C. We must seek to be vitalized in desperation, considering this to be a matter of life or death; we need to be made living, burning, and fruitful—Luke 11:8; 2 Cor. 2:16; 2 Tim. 1:6-7; John 15:5, 16:

1. To be vital means to be living and active; if a group of people are meeting together and are a real vital group—living and active—whoever comes in and sees this will be convinced; vitality is the most convincing factor.

2. We must carry out the practice of the vital groups in desperation; we should pray desperately for the Lord to give us some fruit and remove our barrenness; this should be a matter of life or death with us.

D. The purpose of the vital groups is the increase, perfecting, and building up of the Body of Christ (Acts 2:46-47; Eph. 4:12); the vital groups are to gain the increase, finish the perfecting, and complete the building.

II. God’s move on the earth for the accomplishment of His economy is ultimately through the overcomers; the vital groups should be composed of people who are overcomers—Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26-28; 3:5, 12, 20-21:

A. In the book of Revelation, He calls for the overcomers to carry out His move on the earth for the accomplishment of His eternal economy; the Bible reveals that the overcomers are a success for the Lord—Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26-28, 3:5, 12, 20-21.

B. Vital groups are groups of overcomers; today we are in the age of the overcomers:

1. Zion is the high peak, the center, the uplifting, the strengthening, the enriching, and the reality of the church, the holy city.

2. If there are no overcomers in a local church, that church is like Jerusalem without Zion.

3. We have to make a resolution to be the overcomers—Judg. 5:15.

III. The God-ordained way to build up the Body of Christ takes place through the vital groups—Eph. 4:12-16; John 21:15-17; 1 Cor. 12:23-26; Heb. 10:24-25:

A. The purpose of the vital groups is to live the kingdom life and the church life—Matt. 18:15-22; 2 Tim. 2:22; Rom. 14:17.

B. As the constituents of the vital groups, we need to participate in Christ’s wonderful shepherding in His heavenly ministry to bring the Lord’s recovery into a new revival—John 21:15-17; Acts 20:28-29; Heb. 13:20; 1 Pet. 5:1-4.

C. As the constituents of the vital groups, we need to pursue love as the most excellent way for us to be anything and do anything for the building up of the Body of Christ—1 Cor. 12:31b; 13:4-8, 13; 2 Tim. 2:22.

IV. For the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose, we must build up the vital groups; now we are desperate with the Lord to have a new beginning with a new start by first building up the vital groups—Heb. 10:24-25:

A. The vital groups cannot be formed by organization; a vital group could come into being only by a saint who is desperate and absolute for the increase of the Lord’s recovery:

1. Such vital members are the believers in Christ, the disciples of Christ, the witnesses of Christ, the members of Christ, the brothers of Christ, the prophets of God—John 3:14-16; Matt. 5:1; Acts 1:8; Rom. 12:5; 8:29; 1 Cor. 14:1, 31.

2. Such a desperate saint would spontaneously contact others by the Lord’s leading and organically gain some companions for him to have a vital group.

B. The organic practice of the God-ordained way in the vital groups to build up the church can be carried out only by much and thorough prayer:

1. To be blended together in the vital groups, we first need to pray by ourselves privately; we need to be watchful, on the alert, for the maintaining of our prayer life—Eph. 6:18; Col. 4:2.

2. To be blended together in the vital groups into one accord to become a corporate meal offering, we must exercise and release our spirit by much and thorough prayer—1 Cor. 12:24; 10:17; Acts 1:14; 2:42; Matt. 18:19.

C. For the building up of the vital groups, we need much and thorough prayer to make a corporate Nazarite’s consecration to the Lord to fulfill the New Testament priesthood of the gospel of God—Num. 6:1-9, 22-27:

1. The New Testament priesthood of the gospel to seek, visit, and contact sinners for God’s salvation, to make them the organic members of the Body of Christ, and to offer them to God as the New Testament sacrifice—Rom. 15:16; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9.

2. The nourishing and cherishing of the newborn babes in home meetings as nursing mothers; we must meet in the new believers’ homes, nourishing and cherishing them, so that our fruit may remain—1 Thes. 2:7; Acts 5:42; John 15:16.

3. We must teach and perfect the saints through the vital group meetings unto the New Testament work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

4. We must lead the saints to pursue and desire after prophesying in the church meetings, speaking for the Lord, speaking forth the Lord, supplying the Lord to others, and speaking and listening to one another in mutuality for the building up of the saints and the church—1 Cor. 14:1, 3-5.

V. “You have to rise up to pick up the way to be vital. Then you will be a vital person in your local church to produce and build up a vital group. The Lord will then gain some overcomers in your locality, and there will be a way for the Lord to accomplish His eternal economy.” (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, An Introductory Word)

 

Ministry Excerpts:

AS TODAY’S ZION IN TODAY’S JERUSALEM
(THE CHURCH LIFE)

In the Old Testament, there is the city of Jerusalem with Zion as the center. Jerusalem was built on a mountain range. Mount Zion was one of the mountains on which Jerusalem was built. Zion is the center and Jerusalem is the circumference. The church life is today’s Jerusalem; within the church life there must be a group of overcomers, and these overcomers are today’s Zion. According to Revelation 14, the overcomers are standing on Mount Zion with the Lord (vv. 1-5). Actually in typology, the overcomers are today’s Zion. Then in the last two chapters of Revelation, there is the New Jerusalem. Without Zion (the overcomers), Jerusalem (the church life) cannot be kept and maintained.

THE HIGH PEAK, THE CENTER, THE UPLIFTING,
THE STRENGTHENING, THE ENRICHING,
AND THE REALITY OF THE CHURCH, THE HOLY CITY

Zion is the high peak, the center, the uplifting, the strengthening, the enriching, and the reality of the church, the holy city. If there are no overcomers in a local church, that church is like Jerusalem without Zion. There are some churches like this today, so they are weak churches. A local church must have some overcomers, and these overcomers are the peak and the center of that local church. They are the uplifting, the strengthening, the enriching, and the reality of that local church. If you take away these overcomers from that local church, that local church becomes like a flat tire. The full-time training is for the producing of the overcomers. Once a church has some full-time workers as overcomers, that church is like Jerusalem with the peak of Zion. The overcomers as Zion are the highlight, the center, and the reality of the church. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, msg. 1)

THE OVERCOMERS,
THE VITAL GROUPS WITHIN THE CHURCHES

Today in the church age, the God-men who were perfected and matured are Zion, the overcomers, the vital groups within the churches. But in the new heaven and new earth, there will be no more Zion, only Jerusalem, because all the unqualified saints will have been qualified to be Zion. In other words, the entire New Jerusalem will become Zion. What is Zion? Zion is the very spot where God is, that is, the Holy of Holies. In Revelation 21 there is a sign signifying that the New Jerusalem will be the Holy of Holies. Its dimensions are the dimensions of a cube, twelve thousand stadia long, twelve thousand stadia wide, and twelve thousand stadia high (v. 16). That is the Holy of Holies, because the Holy of Holies in the Old Testament in both the tabernacle and the temple was a cube, equal in length, breadth, and height (Exo. 26:2-8; 1 Kings 6:20).

What shall we do in the light of this revelation? There is no other way to reach this high peak except by praying. It is more than evident that Jerusalem is here as a big realm of Christians, but where is Zion, the overcomers? In the book of Revelation what the Lord wants and what the Lord will build up is Zion, the overcomers. The overcomers are the very Zion, where God is. This is the intrinsic reality of the spiritual revelation in the holy Word of God. We have to realize what the Lord’s recovery is. The Lord’s recovery is to build up Zion. Paul’s writings unveil this to the uttermost, but not many saw this in the past. (Practical Points Concerning Blending, msg. 5)

RECOVERING THE DYNAMIC MOTIVATION OF
THE LORD’S DYNAMIC SALVATION

Now we are desperate with the Lord to have a new beginning with a new start by first building up the vital groups. We should fully realize that the church as the Body of Christ is definitely a group of the believers of Christ who have been saved by His dynamic salvation. I believe that from the first day, the salvation that I received was dynamic. I was saved dynamically. At that time I gave up the world. I told the Lord that I did not want anything from the world. I just desired to follow Him, to take a Bible and travel through all the villages to preach Him. From that day until today I have never had any change. A dynamic motivation was in me and has been in me all the time. Even today I am here, burdened and laboring for the Lord’s interest.

The recovery has been damaged. Thus, we need a real revival. We all need to recover the situation in which we came into the recovery. That is to overcome the leaving of the first love, which is actually the best love. To recover the first love, or the best love, is to give the Lord Jesus the preeminence, the first place, in everything (Col. 1:18). If we give the preeminence to the Lord Jesus in everything, surely we will gain Him. He is the best love; He is the super-excellent love. This is all that we need.

Again I would like to say that the church is a group of people who have been dynamically saved by God. We need to be continually under this kind of dynamic motivation. A proper Christian, an overcomer, is one who is constantly under a dynamic motivation. This we must pray to recover. (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, msg. 9)

THE VITAL GROUPS CANNOT BE FORMED
BY ORGANIZATION

Today we must admit that the deadness of Sardis and the lukewarmness of Laodicea have come into the Lord’s recovery. We need to condemn the condition of Sardis among us and also abhor the situation of Laodicea. We need to hate these things, and we also need to get out of these things. This is not a common thing but a matter of life and death facing the whole recovery. It is a life and death matter that we all must be vitalized.

There are four needs among us in these days. First, the Lord needs a corporate overcomer for His testimony. The Lord needs to have the real testimony of Jesus. Second, the recovery needs to be vital today. The recovery needs a revival of morale, a revival of impact, a revival of the dynamic motivation within us, a revival of vitality among us. This is a real need in the recovery.

Third, the churches’ need is for the prevailing increase. We need to grow; we need to multiply; we need to increase in the churches today. Although the Lord has granted us a substantial increase over the last five years in Southern California, based on the length of time the churches here have existed, our number should be much greater than it is today. We should not boast that we now have more than three thousand members in the churches in Southern California. We should labor and endeavor so that the Lord would increase the churches much more.

Fourth, as saints in the Lord’s recovery, we desperately need to be vitalized. Through intimate and thorough fellowship, through confession, through consecration, through prayer, through our being soaked with the Spirit, through our laboring, and through our learning, we need to be vitalized. This is more crucial in the recovery today than it has ever been before. We all have a responsibility, we all have an obligation, before our Lord. We should pray, “Lord, make me vital. Make me vital today for the sake of Your move.”

Therefore, we need a thorough reconsideration of our way. Is the way that we have been going the right way? We need to get on the God-ordained way. From 1984 until now, a period of almost nine years, the Lord has fully unveiled His ordained way to us. However, if we all are honest before the Lord, we must acknowledge that our reaction, our feeling, toward what the Lord has spoken through His ministry has been somewhat dull. The proof of this is that we are still not vital. We are still in our habit, still somewhat in our tradition. We need to be vitalized. (1993 Blending Conference Messages concerning the Lord’s Recovery and Our Present Need, msg. 7)

THE NEED OF THE RECOVERY TODAY— TO GAIN THE INCREASE

Today in the Lord’s recovery the greatest need, the primary need, is to gain the increase. A house cannot be built without materials. We need to save sinners through the preaching of the gospel that they may become material for the building up of the church as the house of God (1 Tim. 3:15). In general, the rate of increase depends on the way we labor in the gospel, and also on the environment and the people. In Russia, in a short time of approximately one year, two large churches have been raised up, one in Moscow and another in St. Petersburg. There the rate of increase has been very high because the way has been somewhat right, the environment is very favorable, and the people are very suitable. For a number of reasons the rate of increase in the United States has been much lower. The rate of increase among the churches in Taiwan has been similar to that in the United States. The churches in Taiwan have been in existence for more than forty years, yet the number of saints in the churches today indicates that the rate of increase has been lower than ten percent per year.

If we mean business with the Lord for His recovery, we need to consider our present situation seriously. We should not be comfortable concerning the present situation of the Lord’s recovery, especially regarding the matter of increase. With the exception of Russia, the situation everywhere—in America, in Europe, and in the Far East—is about the same with regard to the increase. We need to be aware of the present situation. We should not allow ourselves to be drugged, thinking that the situation among us is so wonderful. No doubt the recovery is wonderful, but some aspects of the recovery are not encouraging, especially the matter of increase. This is why in 1984 I went to Taiwan purposely to study this matter.

I feel that in order for us to be rescued from our present situation, we definitely need the vital groups. The vital groups are a matter of life or death. From now on, none of us should act, move, or do anything in the meetings lightly. When we speak, we must say something that is worthwhile, and we should say it “officially.” Otherwise, we should remain silent. Even when we are sitting still and are silent, we should do so in a stately manner, not in a light way. If we do things lightly, how could we have the Lord’s blessing? We need to bring this matter to the Lord and pray. The recovery is not only yours or mine; it is ours. Therefore, we all should consider it seriously as a matter of life or death. (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, msg. 19)

BEING A VITAL PERSON, AN OVERCOMER,
A PRAYING PERSON

We need to remember that our groups must be vital groups. The Bible talks about vital people. What is an overcomer? An overcomer is a vital person. Then what is it to be vital so that we can be overcomers? A vital person, an overcomer, is a praying person. You must have the real burden for the real prayer. Recently, I told some co-workers that their prayer did not come out of any burden. If we come together just to shout a few sentences, is this a burden of prayer? This is formality. It is a formal performance.

We have seen in a previous message that Brother Nee said we should not pray anything that is not real prayer. Many prayers that we pray actually are not prayers. They are repetitions of statements according to our tradition. The real burden of prayer is not a composition. When the blind man prayed to the Lord, he did not pray a composed prayer. When the Lord Jesus asked him what he wanted, the blind man said, “Lord, that I may receive my sight!” (Luke 18:41). This is real prayer out of a real burden. He was burdened to contact Jesus so that he could see, and the Lord answered his prayer. But our prayers mostly are not like this. Our prayers, even our personal prayers, are mostly a religious form and a kind of performance.

Then we may ask, “How can we be burdened for prayer?” This is a matter of the Lord’s mercy. I cannot forget the vital groups, because that is my real burden. I cannot forget the Lord’s recovery, because His recovery is my burden. I always have to pray to the Lord for His recovery. When I pray and cry, “O Lord, the recovery,” this is out of some burden. Once we begin to pray for the recovery, we realize that we cannot finish our prayer. There are many places and persons for which we have to pray. We need to be vital, and to be vital is to have the real burden for prayer. There is the need of the real prayer among us. What the vital groups should have a burden to pray is this: “Lord, the church needs the proper increase.” (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, msg. 23)