THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
Truth
Message Ten
Being Constituted with the Divine Truth
Scripture Reading: 1 John 1:5-6; 5:20; John 17:17; 18:37; 1 Tim. 2:4; 3:15; 2 Tim. 2:2, 15
I. The Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the light of the truth—1 John 1:5-6:
A. Truth is the shining of light, the expression of the divine light—v. 5.
B. The truths as revealed in the Scriptures have been lost, missed, misunderstood, misinterpreted, and wrongly applied throughout the ages; hence, there is the need of the Lord’s recovery—John 17:17:
1. The Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the divine truths as revealed in the holy Scriptures, the holy Word of God—2 Tim. 3:16.
2. The goal of the Lord’s recovery is to recover the reality, life, livingness, strength, power, and impact of the matters revealed in the Scriptures.
C. In His recovery the Lord is moving on by His word, by the truth—Eph. 1:13; Col. 1:5; 1 Tim. 2:4:
1. In the recovery the truths from Matthew to Revelation have been recovered by the Lord—1 John 5:20.
2. The truth in the recovery is the consummation of the truth of the past nineteen centuries—2 Tim. 2:2.
II. We need to have the truth wrought into us and constituted into our being—1 John 1:8; 2:4; 2 John 1-2; 3 John 3-4:
A. To be constituted with the truth is to have the intrinsic element of the divine revelation wrought into us to become our constituent, our intrinsic being, our organic constitution.
B. The kind of church we build up depends on the kind of truth we teach; thus, there is a desperate need of the living truth to produce the church, to help the church to exist, and to build up the church—1 Tim. 3:15.
III. We need Ezras to teach the people, to educate them, and to constitute them with the heavenly truths—Ezra 7:10-12, 21; Neh. 8:
A. The greatest need we must meet is to bring the saints in the Lord’s recovery into the truth to carry the recovery on—2 Tim. 2:2, 15:
B. The main responsibility of the elders is to teach the saints with the truths—1 Tim. 3:2; 5:17; Titus 1:9:
1. It would be unseemly for an elder to make decisions and expect the saints to follow them but not visit the saints with the truths.
2. The real eldership is not to exercise authority; the real eldership is to visit the saints and to shepherd them, feed them, and take care of them by speaking to them concerning the truths—1 Tim. 3:2; 5:17.
IV. To be constituted with the truth is to be constituted with Christ as the testimony of God and the living word of God so that we may become the testimony of Christ for the fulfillment of the economy of God—John 14:6a; 17:17; Rev. 1:9; 1 Tim. 3:15-16a:
A. The law is a type of Christ as God’s Word and God’s testimony, God’s expression; when we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, we become the testimony of Christ for His expression—John 1:1, 18; Rev. 19:13; Col. 3:16:
B. Christ Himself is God’s real and living law, the Word of God, the breath of God, and the expression of God—2 Tim. 3:16-17.
C. By pray-reading the Word, we breathe God’s element into us, being infused with what God is to cause us to live Christ and become the living expression of God—Eph. 6:17-18; John 17:17.
D. Through our daily reading of the divine Word, the word of God works within us, and the Spirit, through the word, spontaneously dispenses God’s nature with His element into our being, causing us to be constituted with God—6:63.
V. To be constituted with the truth of the living word of God is to be transfused with the thought of God, with the considerations of God, and with all that God is, making us God’s reproduction to be God’s testimony—Neh. 8:1; 13:30a:
A. We need to be constituted with the truth of the living word of God so that we can be instructed, governed, ruled, and controlled by the word of God to live under the government of God and in the economy of God—Deut. 17:18-20; 2 Pet. 1:12, 19-21; 2 Cor. 10:5; 2 John 2, 4; cf. Heb. 1:2-3.
B. Once the truth gets into us through our understanding, it remains in our memory, and then we retain the truth in our memory, causing us to have an accumulation of the truth—Col. 3:16; cf. Rom. 8:6; Eph. 4:23.
C. After the truth gets into our memory, it becomes a constant and long-term source of nourishment—Psa. 119:15-16, 48-49.
D. All the saints in the Lord’s recovery should be trained in the divine revelation of the truths in the Holy Scriptures—2 Tim. 2:2, 15:
1. Nearly all the crucial revelations in the Bible have been covered in the ministry of Brother Nee and Brother Lee; we should pay our attention to these pure and healthy things and not waste our time collecting “poisonous gourds”—2 Kings 4:38-41.
2. The Life-studies and the Recovery Version open up the Bible, release the riches of the Bible, and bring us under the governing and controlling vision of the economy of God for the building up of the church as the house of God—Neh. 8:8, 13; 1 Tim. 1:3-4; Acts 26:18-19.
Ministry Excerpts:
THE LORD’S RECOVERY BEING THE RECOVERY OF THE LIGHT
OF THE TRUTH
The Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the light of the truth. In the past sixty years the Lord has been opening up the Bible to us day by day, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. He will continue to do so until all the truths from Genesis to Revelation are completely transparent, opened, and unveiled to us. We may say that until now there has not been another group of Christians who has spoken on Genesis 2 and especially on the tree of life as clearly as the speaking in the Lord’s recovery. In the same way, today there is no one outside of the Lord’s recovery who can speak on the truth in the last two chapters of Revelation regarding the New Jerusalem to the degree of clarity that we have seen and spoken it. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 5, “Truth, Life, the Church, and the Gospel—the Four Great Pillars in the Lord’s Recovery”, msg. 3)
Truth Being the Shining of Light
It is significant that in 1 and 2 Timothy life is not mentioned nearly as often as truth. Truth is spoken of again and again (1 Tim. 2:4; 3:15; 4:3; 6:5; 2 Tim. 2:15, 18; 3:8; 4:4). The reason for this is that these Epistles were written during a time of degradation. When the church is degraded, there is darkness; and when there is darkness, there is the need for the truth. Truth is the expression of light, just as grace is the expression of love. Whenever light shines, we receive truth. Light shines in darkness. In 1 and 2 Timothy, two books dealing with degradation, truth is mentioned often because during a period of darkness there is the need for the shining of the light, the expression of the light.
Truth is the shining of light. Wherever there is light, there is God, for God is light (1 John 1:5). When the light shines upon us, it becomes the truth. In Romans 8 Paul encourages us to walk according to the spirit, but in John’s second and third Epistles, also written in a time of degradation, John speaks of walking in the truth. Although in his other writings John emphasizes life, in these two Epistles he speaks much about the truth. For example, in 3 John 4 he says, “I have no greater joy than these things, that I hear that my children are walking in the truth.” Whenever we are in a time of degradation and darkness, we need the shining of the light so that we may know how to walk in the proper way. (CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages”, ch. 1)
Many Christians think that the word truth in the Bible denotes doctrine. But if we change truth in the Gospel of John into doctrine, it sounds absurd. Let us take several examples. “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us…full of grace and doctrine.” “Grace and doctrine came through Jesus Christ.” “I am the way and the doctrine and the life.” “You shall know the doctrine, and the doctrine shall set you free.” “Sanctify them in the doctrine; Your word is doctrine.” “When He, the Spirit of doctrine, comes.” How absurd! Truth does not denote doctrine. It first means the shining of the light, the expression of the light. In other words, truth is light expressed. God never comes to us without shining upon us. When God comes to us as light and shines, we immediately have the sense of truth, of reality. (CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages”, ch. 2)
The Truths as Revealed in the Scriptures Being Lost and Wrongly Taught
First, the Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the divine truths as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, the holy Word of God (2 Tim. 3:16). The divine truths are not according to what anyone thinks or imagines; they are revealed in the Holy Scriptures, that is, the holy Word. The Bible is a great blessing that God, the Lord, has given to mankind on the earth. If there had not been such a book as the Bible, the Holy Scriptures, on the earth, what a pity and what a devastation there would have been among the human race! The Bible is justifiably called “the Book” because the Bible is “the Book” among all books. The Bible is the book of books because it is in this book that we can see all the divine truths.
All Scripture, as the holy Word of God, is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16). Although there are many doctrines and teachings in the Bible, we should not think that the Bible is merely a book of doctrines or teachings in letters. The entire Bible is God’s breathing, God’s breath. It is not merely doctrines in empty or dead letters, but it is God’s breathing in life. Because of this, many Bible readers can testify that when they come to the Bible, they receive light and life.
The content of the Scriptures is very deep. Some sentences of the Bible are very simple. For example, in John 8:12 the Lord Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” This is a simple word, but the significance is deep, profound, and all-inclusive. The truths as revealed in the Scriptures have been lost, missed, misunderstood, misinterpreted, and wrongly taught throughout the ages. Hence, there is the need of the Lord’s recovery. In the age of the early apostles, in the age of the church fathers, in the age of the church councils, in the age of Catholicism with the papal system, and in the age of the Protestant practice, the Lord has always recovered some of the lost, missed, misunderstood, misinterpreted, and wrongly taught truths through some of His saints who loved Him and His holy Word. (CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “1993 Blending Conference Messages Concerning the Lord’s Recovery and Our Present Need”, msg. 1)
The Lord Moving by His Word in His Recovery
In His recovery the Lord is moving by His word, by the truth. His word is in the Bible, but the Bible needs the proper interpretation, which is found in the life-studies. If the co-workers and the elders study all our publications, there will be many Ezras in the Lord’s recovery to constitute people with the heavenly truths. (Life-study of Ezra, msg. 5)
The Truth Being Extracted, Condensed, and Crystallized for Us
In the recovery the truths from Matthew to Revelation have been recovered by the Lord. In particular, the Lord has recovered the truths concerning the all-inclusive Christ and the New Jerusalem. The truth in the recovery is the consummate truth of the past nineteen centuries. We are standing on the shoulders of all the tribes that have gone before us. Thus, the truth has been extracted, condensed, and crystallized for us. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 12)
Although the Bible cannot be improved, the truth in the Bible is progressive, and the recovery of the divine truths in the Bible is even more progressive. Four hundred years ago, very few of the truths in God’s Word had been recovered, but this is not so today. The recovery of the truths is richer now than it was just twenty years ago. This does not mean that the Bible changes or that we change the Bible, for no one has the right to do that. It means that the Lord is moving on in the recovery of His truths. (Life-study of Revelations, msg. 22)
Not Reading the Bible in the Way the Religionists Did at the Time
of the Lord Jesus and Paul
We should not read the Bible in the way the religionists did at the time of the Lord Jesus and Paul. They did not realize that the title of God — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob — implied resurrection. Probably Gamaliel instructed Paul according to Genesis 12 and 15, but it was not until Paul was enlightened of the Lord and received revelation that he realized that Abraham’s wife and his concubine typified two covenants. This shows that it is one thing to be a Bible scholar; it is quite another thing to have the light of God’s revelation.
We should not merely study the Word in letter. We need to pray that the Lord would give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation. If we do not have such a spirit but read only the black and white letters of the Bible, we shall not experience life, light, or spirit. There is a great difference between the way the Bible is used among most Christians today and the way it is used among us in the Lord’s recovery. The majority of believers use the Word in the way of letters, but we use it in the way of life, light, and spirit. This is the reason we constantly humble ourselves before the Lord, open to Him, and look to Him for light, vision, wisdom, and revelation. May we all learn to come to the Word of God in this way. (Life-study of 2 Timothy, msg. 6)
HELPING THEM TO BE EDUCATED AND BUILT UP IN PROPER KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH
I am not fellowshipping in a legal way, but in principle I beg the elders to reconsider the way to carry out the meetings. We must have a very available way to carry out God’s purpose. We cannot go the religious way. Even today our way of meeting is still very much governed and influenced by the religious way. We come together to pray, read some verses of the Bible, and give some messages, and the people who have been sitting in our meetings for years eventually get only some kind of inspiration. This is better than nothing, but for the long run the Lord could not carry out His purpose in this way.
If Not Being Properly Constituted with the Truth,
Saints Not Living a Proper Life
We cannot take the old way of our meeting life. If we continue to take our old way, I am afraid that after another ten years we will be in the same condition. We are just giving people a little injection to help them grow in life mainly by inspiration, but no solid truth has been constituted into their being that can remain in their memory and that can be presented to others in a proper doctrinal way. By taking the way that we have taken, we have lost the nature of the testimony of Jesus, which must be a constitution of the proper truth that produces a proper daily living. If the saints are not properly constituted with the truth, they cannot live a proper life. If they live only by inspiration and not by the constitution of the truth, I do not trust in that kind of living to be a testimony of the Lord.
I feel that we must endeavor to make all the church meetings educational centers to build the saints up with the proper knowledge. Our meetings should not be merely a restaurant to feed the children or a hospital to heal people. If the parents of a child would not care for the education of their children until they become ten years old, their children would grow up to be persons who are not very useful to society. Proper parents must take care of bringing their children up through elementary, junior high, high school, and college. In like manner, we must educate our spiritual children. We should not only help them grow in life but should also help them to be educated and built up in the proper knowledge of the truth. To carry out this educational work we must come to the Life-study messages with the Recovery Version and the footnotes. If all the saints could go through the entire New Testament and the Life-studies with the Recovery Version and the footnotes in five years, I would worship the Lord. This would be wonderful. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision”, ch. 13)
What Kind of Church We Build up Depending upon
What Kind of Truth We Teach
History has clearly shown us that the existence of a denomination, free group, or the genuine church life all depends on solid doctrines. If there are no solid doctrines, there is no church. Since the Lord’s recovery has come to the United States, we have stressed very much that the building up of the church depends upon the experience of Christ, upon the life-giving Spirit, and upon the matters of life. Seemingly, I am saying something different now, but in the past I occasionally indicated that the Pentecostal movement could never have anything built up. The Assembly of God, the solid and big denomination built up by the Pentecostal movement, was established in 1914. After fifty years of their existence, in 1965 I heard that through their practice they had learned to charge their theological students not to go out with the expectation that the so-called Pentecostal gifts could build up the church. They charged their students to realize that the way to build up the church is to put out doctrines or teachings. Therefore, in the Assembly of God meetings, they do not practice speaking in tongues. Mainly, they preach the gospel and teach the doctrines for edifying the saints. This does not mean that they have given up speaking in tongues but that they exercise these gifts in their private lives.
I say this to show you that even in the past I occasionally indicated strongly that the so-called “Spirit” cannot build up the church, but the solid truth or the solid doctrines can. Certainly, what kind of church you will build up depends upon what kind of truth you teach. Since 1962 here in the United States, we have stressed greatly that the churches are built up not by mere doctrines but by Christ, by the Spirit, and by life. Since this time a great many messages have been put out on the truth. If we had not put out any messages on the truth since the recovery came to this country, and we had merely learned to pray and to exercise the gifts such as tongues and healings, today’s situation would be very poor. In the past we practiced in this way for a short time, and we found out that the issue was poor. Through the years, however, we have stressed Christ, the Spirit, and life. In all the messages what we condemned was the empty, dead doctrines of dead letters. However, we fully realized that to produce the church, to have the church exist, and to build up the church we needed to put out the solid, living truths full of Christ, full of the Spirit, and full of life. God’s way to carry out His economy is to use His holy Word. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision”, ch. 10)
HAVING TO PAY THE PRICE TO LEARN THE TRUTHS
We must be vital in order to gain sinners for the Lord. After we gain them, we need to feed them. To feed the new believers is even harder than gaining them. Then we have to perfect them by the mutual asking and answering of questions, the mutual teaching, in the group meetings. In order to do this effectively, we have to learn the truths. The recent life-study on Joshua, Judges, and Ruth did not come to me by accident. It came from over a half century of studying the Bible and accumulating the truth in the Bible. I am sharing this to impress us that we have to pay the price to learn the truths.
We need to gather the new ones together to form a little vital group, to mutually ask questions and mutually answer one another for the mutual teaching. The new ones cannot do this, so we have to set up a pattern for them by asking the proper questions. We may ask, “What is the first thing a believer should do after his baptism?” They will not know how to answer this, so we have to answer for them to set up a pattern. After we do this a number of times, they will learn how to ask and how to answer. This means that we need to pay the price to learn the truth and to learn how to speak. Then we need to help the new ones to practice the church meeting by prophesying to build up the Body. This is very high, but it is practical and workable. Whether or not we carry this out depends upon our willingness to pay the price to do it.
The Lord is a working God. He is still working today in His own way, and He needs people. We must enter into the intrinsic significance of the Holy Scriptures to find out what the Lord says and what He wants. We have no right to invent anything. Rather, we discover things in the Bible. We should aspire to be patterns to the coming generation. Then the Lord will have a way. Otherwise, He cannot have a way to build up His Body and to defeat His enemy, to destroy Satan. Satan is still working on this earth, walking about as a roaring lion and seeking someone to devour (1 Pet. 5:8). He is also active in the heavens (Job 1:6). Revelation shows that God is waiting for the overcomers to defeat him (12:10-11). Christianity cannot fulfill this work for God. Even the church life in the recovery carried out in a routine way cannot accomplish God’s desire. The Lord needs the overcomers. (CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “The Problems Causing the Turmoils in the Church Life”, ch. 4)
The Greatest Need We Must Meet Being to Bring the Saints
in the Lord’s Recovery into the Truth
Based upon this, I feel that for the long run for the Lord’s recovery in such a top country as the United States, which is full of culture, education, scientific knowledge, and biblical knowledge, the greatest need we must meet is to bring the saints in the Lord’s recovery into the truth to carry on the Lord’s recovery. For a country to be strong, there is the need to bring its people into the proper education. If the people are behind in education, that country is also behind. The reason the United States is a top country is because of its highest education. When President Nixon was in office, he encouraged the young people to study at the universities, because many young Americans at that time did not want to study further after high school. However, the trend in the United States has changed. Such a big country needs many more people to receive the highest, up-to-date education. Otherwise, there is no way for a country to be among the top countries in today’s world.
The Standard of the Lord’s Recovery Depending upon the Standard
of the Truth We Put out
Today we are here for the Lord’s recovery. For the long run we surely have to help the saints in the Lord’s recovery to get into the top spiritual education. You must remember that we still uplift the living Christ, the life-giving Spirit, life itself and its riches, and the church in a living way. To promote these things, to carry these things out, and to bring people into these things so that they remain there, we need the Word, and we need the truth. The standard of the Lord’s recovery depends upon the standard of the truth that we put out. The truths will be the measure and the standard.
Some may think that I am “selling my cargo.” They may also think that I am controlling so that no other teaching would come into the Lord’s recovery. I want to make the real situation clear to all of you. After four or five years some better things may come out. I cannot predict, and only the Lord knows. If that would happen, we had better go to take these better things. I would take the lead to take them. While I am writing the footnotes and putting out the messages, I am always on the alert to see if anything new has come out. Many Christian publications are produced in the United States; in other countries, however, there has been nearly nothing produced. What spiritual publications have come out in the past twenty years in France or Russia? What spiritual publications have come out of Britain in recent times? Britain was used by the Lord greatly in the last century. The saints there really saw something, and groups of great Bible teachers were produced in Britain up to the first third of this century. After the first third of this century, however, Britain has produced nearly nothing in the way of top spiritual publications. From my observation nearly nothing has come out of Germany in recent years. In the past twenty years since the Lord’s recovery came to the United States, the only things that I can see that have been produced by Christians of some worth and value have been from the United States. In the past twenty years the Christians in the United States have put out a number of books, such as lexicons, Greek concordances, and word studies of the Scriptures. These books are very good, and I encourage you all to buy them. However, there has been nothing published in the way of exposition that is worthwhile. It is good for us to purchase the books on the Greek and Hebrew languages since these are very useful. The best choice for exposition, however, is to use our publications. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision”, ch. 10)
BEING RECONSTITUTED TO BE GOD’S TESTIMONY
In order to be reconstituted, we need to come back to God by coming back to His law, that is, His word (ch. 8). Suppose a fallen person wants to come back to God. If he would come back to God, he must come back to God’s word. No one can come back to God without coming back to His word.
God’s Word Reconstituting Us
God’s word reconstitutes us. We all have our own kind of disposition and habitual behavior, but God is able to reconstitute us through His word. This is why we need to read the Bible. God’s word gradually changes our mind and our way of thinking. The word of God is one with the Spirit (Eph. 6:17). When the word of God works within us, the Spirit, through the word, spontaneously dispenses God’s nature with God’s element into our being. We may not even be aware that such a dispensing is taking place within us. By this way we are reconstituted. (Life-study of Nehemiah, msg. 3)
Being Constituted with God’s New Testament Ministry
I saw much opposition to the Lord’s recovery for twenty years in mainland China. Later, I was sent out from Taiwan to Southeast Asia and then to the United States. I personally have confronted opposition even from saints among us. Over the years, though, I must testify that I have never had a bit of doubt about the Lord’s recovery. Before I came out of mainland China, the New Testament ministry had been thoroughly constituted into my being. I know many doctrines, but I cannot teach those doctrines. My person has become a constitution of the New Testament ministry. Whenever you ask me to speak and wherever you ask me to speak, whether it is at a wedding, at your dining table, to your family, to the old, to the young, to the brothers, or to the sisters, what I can speak and what I will speak is the New Testament ministry. How do we carry out this ministry? We need to be a person constituted with God’s New Testament ministry. If you mean business with the Lord and if you love the Lord for His recovery and you love His recovery for Himself, you must get yourself constituted with this New Testament ministry.
Our constitution should not be something gilded. It must be something inwrought into our being. The great Babylon is gilded with gold (Rev. 17:4), but the lampstand is golden by its intrinsic essence. It is golden intrinsically, basically, and essentially. With many of us, our being golden is somewhat by gilding. Something that is gilded with gold cannot pass the test of “scratching.” A little scratch exposes the real nature of the thing. If we are really gold, “scratching” will expose that we are gold. Even if someone were to “break us up” and “grind us into powder,” it would show that we are not only golden but gold. If our intrinsic nature is golden, we can stand any kind of test. The Lord’s recovery does not treasure any gilded thing. We treasure the basic things, the intrinsic things, the essential things. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision”, ch. 5)
Being Re-educated in the Word of God
In order to reconstitute the people of God, there is the need to educate them with the word that comes out of the mouth of God, which expresses God. This means that to reconstitute the people of God is to educate them by putting them into the Word of God that they may be saturated with the Word.
The Israelites had been in Egypt for at least four hundred years. During those years they must have been constituted with Egyptian learning. Then they were brought to Babylon for seventy years. Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah were all born and raised among the Babylonians. After the people of Israel returned from Babylon, they mixed themselves with the Canaanites. Thus, the Israelites were constituted with the Egyptian, Babylonian, and Canaanite culture. Nevertheless, they returned to be the testimony of God. But how could a people with a constitution of Egyptian, Babylonian, and Canaanite culture be God’s testimony, the expression of the God-man? Such a people were not the God-men. How could they express God? In order to be the testimony of God, His expression, they needed to be re-educated in the Word of God.
BEING RECONSTITUTED PERSONALLY AND CORPORATELY
TO BE GOD’S TESTIMONY
In addition to being re-educated, the people of Israel needed to be raised up in much the same way as parents raise their children. Parents not only educate their children but spontaneously and unconsciously impart themselves, nearly their whole being, into their children. Parents transfuse what they are and what they think into their children. Eventually, this constitutes their children to be the same as they are. This is what the children of Israel needed.
Before Nehemiah came back, the nation of Israel was a mess. The duties of the priests were not certain, and no one was taking care of the Levites and the serving ones. The singers were there, but no one had opened the way for them to sing and to be formed into companies. Nehemiah, with the help of Ezra, totally reconstituted the nation. Then Israel became a particular nation, a nation sanctified and separated unto God, expressing God. They were transfused with the thought of God, with the considerations of God, and with all that God is, making them God’s reproduction. Everyone became God in life and in nature by this kind of divine constitution. As a result, they became a divine nation on earth expressing the divine character. They were reconstituted personally and corporately to be God’s testimony. The returned captives became God’s testimony through the reconstitution which took place under the leadership of Nehemiah. (Life-study of Nehemiah, msg. 5)
The Best Way Being to Use the Recovery Version with the Footnotes
and the Life-study Messages
At present, the best way to gain the knowledge of God’s New Testament economy is to use the Recovery Version with the footnotes and the Life-study messages. Do not think that my intention in saying this is to promote my materials. I am simply telling you honestly what is the best way to be constituted with the New Testament truths.
It is difficult to gain from the writings of expositors the adequate knowledge of the basic truths of the New Testament. The reason is that those writings were not put out with this intention or burden. On the contrary, those writings, composed for scholarship, are in a different category and may actually hinder you from receiving the knowledge of the basic truths.
Again I say, if you would be qualified to be an elder and take care of the church, you need to be constituted with the New Testament truths. If you do not have this divine deposit in your being, you are not qualified for the eldership, because you lack the necessary “capital.”
Those who are not constituted with the truth may be able to bring people into the church life, but they are not able to take them on. One day a certain person said to me, “Brother Lee, I can only bring people into the church. I am not able to give them nourishment and to build them up.” I replied, “Brother, it is very good that you realize this. I hope that you will not go beyond the matter of bringing people in. Do not try to go further. Let others do a further work on the saints.” However, this brother’s actual practice was very different. Because he did not have an adequate knowledge of the truth, he was not qualified to be an elder. To be sure, he was not divinely appointed as an elder.
Who is the one divinely appointed to be an elder? Again, I would say that the one who is divinely appointed is the one who knows at least a major part of the New Testament truths. This is his qualification and also his capital. Furthermore, I again encourage you to gain this capital by using the Recovery Version with the footnotes and the Life-study messages. I would also ask you to seek a way to help the saints in your locality to use these rich materials. This will be a great profit to all the churches. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision”, ch. 12)
Having an Accumulation of the Truth
You must dive into the Recovery Version with the footnotes and the Life-study messages. It is not an easy task to be built up in the truth. You must study the text and every footnote. If possible, it is helpful to take care of the cross references. Then you need to study the Life-study messages. You need to get into these messages not like you are reading a newspaper or a reference book. You must consider the text of the Recovery Version with the footnotes and the Life-study messages as a textbook. Because this is my work, I know the nature of it. I am fellowshipping this with you to let you know the way our publications were written. If you merely read them in a light way, you cannot get into them. You must study them as a textbook.
If you merely read the Life-studies, you will receive only a temporary nourishment. That will become only a kind of inspiration to you. An inspiration is like a vapor in the air. When what we read becomes a truth in our being, this nourishment remains forever. What I have received is not all the time inspiration, like a vapor. What I have received from the Lord is always the solid truth, so it remains in me, nourishing me all the time. You must have the truth. The only way for the truth to get into you is through your mentality. Then it remains in your memory. If you do not understand, the truth cannot get into you. The truth gets into you through your mentality, your understanding. Also, if the truth gets into your memory, it becomes a constant and long-term nourishment. Then you have an accumulation of the truth, and you are a person continually under the constant nourishment. You will then know how to present the truth to others, not merely to inspire them or to stir them up but to make them solid and constituted with the truth. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision”, ch. 9)
Building up a Habit of Spending Time in God’s Word
We should help the saints to build up a practice or a habit that every day they would spend at least thirty minutes in the Word. This can be done by taking ten minutes in the morning, ten minutes in the evening, and another ten minutes before going to bed. We all need to build up such a practice to spend at least thirty minutes a day to get into God’s Word. The best way is to charge the saints to study a book of the New Testament according to their choice. They should get into this book continually and every day. Some saints may decide to study the book of Romans or the book of Hebrews. They should study every day either three times for ten minutes each or one time for thirty minutes. We should charge them to pray-read two or three verses of this book every day. Then they have to study the accompanying message. We have messages on all the verses. The saints do not need to pray-read the Life-study messages, but they have to pray-read the biblical verses in order to get the help to enter into the truth conveyed in these few verses. They also need the help of the footnotes and the Life-study messages to enter into the truth. The saints need to take this way every day to get into the truth. After one year of studying the Bible in this way, there will be a solid change in the saints’ home life, private life, and church life. A few verses seems very slow, but we must realize that breathing is a slow thing. We breathe only a little at a time, but this continual practice accumulates and keeps us living. We may think that this is too slow, but even if it took us ten years to finish the entire New Testament, that would be wonderful. To pick up the truth contained in half of the New Testament after five years would be marvelous. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision”, ch. 10)
Growing Gradually by Life and by Truth
While the issue of nourishment is forever, the nourishment itself remains only temporarily. Once the truth has been constituted into someone, however, it will remain there forever, and its remaining is its supply. Our need for the long run is this kind of education with the truth, which is really something solid, living, and existing. We need this. Do not expect to have an overnight success, which is like a factory making artificial flowers. Overnight you can produce many flowers, but in a genuine nursery or garden it takes time to grow flowers. Do not pick up the thought that we could do a quick work. You may have the thought that within two years a great number of people will be added to the church. Most of these people, however, may be empty. This is mushrooming. We must take care of the church in a way of growing gradually by life and by truth. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision”, ch. 11)
Being Filled with the Riches of the Living Word Day by Day, We Spontaneously Holding Forth the Word of Life
If we are filled with the riches of the living Word day by day, spontaneously we shall hold forth the word of life. We shall present the word of life to others and offer it to them. This is to magnify Christ and to live Christ. Christ Himself is the living Word, the word of life. For this reason, when we are filled with the word of life, we manifest Christ and magnify Him. (Life-study of Philippians, msg. 46)
Being Filled with the Riches of God’s New Testament Economy and Carrying out the Burden for God’s Economy Positively and Aggressively
The situation on earth today needs a strong testimony, and a strong testimony requires much labor. Thus there is the great need for many to serve the Lord with their full time. But in order to labor for the Lord, you need to be fully constituted of the Word.
Let us all be filled with the riches of God’s New Testament economy and then carry out the burden for God’s economy positively and aggressively. We all can become aggressive if we are filled and saturated. I hope that in the coming years there will be a great increase for the Lord’s propagation. May there be a real stirring up throughout the earth! (Life-study of Acts, msg. 55)