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: (2000 ITERO-F, EVENING SESSIONS, msg. 2; Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, msg. 2)
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: (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, msg. 7)
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. (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, msg. 7)
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. (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, msg. 7)
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: (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, msg. 2)
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. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, msg. 2)
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. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, msg. 2)
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: (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, msg. 2)
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. (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, msg. 25)
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. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, msg. 2)
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. (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, msg. 7)
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: (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, msg. 7)
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. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, An Introductory Word)
B. Vital groups are groups of overcomers; today we are in the age of the overcomers: (2000 ITERO-F, EVENING SESSIONS, msg. 2; The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, An Introductory Word)
1. Zion is the high peak, the center, the uplifting, the strengthening, the enriching, and the reality of the church, the holy city. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, msg. 1)
2. If there are no overcomers in a local church, that church is like Jerusalem without Zion. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, msg. 1)
3. We have to make a resolution to be the overcomers—Judg. 5:15. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, msg. 1)
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: (2003 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
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. (2003 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
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. (2003 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
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. (2003 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
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: (2010 MDC, msg. 6)
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: (1993 Blending Conference Messages concerning the Lord’s Recovery and Our Present Need, msg. 7)
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. (1998 ITERO-S, msg. 5)
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. (1998 ITERO-S, msg. 5)
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: (2006 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
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. (2006 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
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. (2006 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
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: (2006 ITERO-F, msg. 8)
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. (2010 MDC, msg. 6)
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. (2010 MDC, msg. 6; 2012 MDC, msg. 5)
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. (2012 MDC, msg. 5)
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. (2012 MDC, msg. 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)