the Body of Christ (Chapter Ten)

the Body of Christ (Chapter Ten)

《 Matured Leadings in the Lord's Recovery(Vol.1) 》

CONTENTS： MATURED LEADINGS IN THE LORD'S RECOVERY (1)

1. Preface TALKS WITH CO-WORKERS FROM HONG KONG AND CANTON, AUGUST 1949 AND NOVEMBER 21, 1949 2. A Talk with Co-Workers from Hong Kong and Canton (1) (Chapter One) 3. A Talk with Co-Workers from Hong Kong and Canton (2) (Chapter Two) 4. A Talk with Co-Workers from Hong Kong and Canton (3) (Chapter Three) 5. A Talk with Co-Workers from Hong Kong and Canton (4) (Chapter Four) 6. A Private Talk with Brother K.H. Weigh (Chapter Five) 7. Forsaking Everything for the Gospel's Sake (Chapter Six) MEETINGS, CONFERENCES, AND PRIVATE FELLOWSHIPS, FEBRUARY 2 —MARCH 11, 1950

8. A Talk with Co-Workers (1) (Chapter Seven) 9. A Special Talk on Handing Oneself Over (Chapter Eight) 10.Forsaking Everything to Serve God (Chapter Nine) 11. The Relationship Between Handing Oneself Over and the Building Up of the Body of Christ (Chapter Ten) 12.A Talk with Co-Workers (2) (Chapter Eleven) 13.Handing Ourselves Over for the Preaching of the Gospel by the Whole Body (Chapter Twelve) 14.How to Handle the Items That Have Been Handed Over (Chapter Thirteen) 15.A Fellowship with Young Brothers and Sisters (Chapter Fourteen) 16.A Fellowship with the Working Saints (Chapter Fifteen) 17.Consecration as Revealed in Romans 12 (Chapter Sixteen) 18.A Fellowship Concerning Handing Oneself Over in and Absolute Way (Chapter Seventeen) 19.A Sign Before the Lord's Coming (Chapter Eighteen)

20.Appointment of Elders (Chapter Nineteen) 21.Fellowship Concerning Service (1) (Chapter Twenty) 22.Fellowship Concerning Service (2) (Chapter Twenty-One)

PREFACE Volumes 61 and 62 of The Collected Works contain messages given during Watchman Nee's visits to Canton and Hong Kong between 1949 and 1950. They are compiled from notes of Weigh Kwang-hsi and his wife, Mrs. Weigh Lin Yitian. Most of the messages were spoken by Watchman Nee. Some of them were spoken by Watchman Nee and Witness Lee together. These two volumes have been divided into two sections. The first section contains the record of five times of fellowship with co-workers in Canton in August of 1949 and one time of fellowship with co-workers in Hong Kong on November 21, 1949. These records are contained in chapters one through six. The second section covers the period between February 2 and March 11, 1950. Watchman Nee and Witness Lee were both in Hong Kong during that time conducting service meetings, conferences, and private fellowships together. The record of their sharing is contained in chapters seven through forty-five. Watchman Nee arrived in Hong Kong in January of 1950, and returned to China on March 12. Witness Lee arrived in Hong Kong on February 16 and left on April 1 for Taiwan. During their stay, these two brothers rendered much help to the church in Hong Kong. Volumes 61 and 62 of The Collected Works only include the record of the meetings in which Watchman Nee attended and spoke. Concerning this period of time, Brother K. H. Weigh remarked, "In the past it had been a rare occurrence for these two brothers to visit the same church at the same time. Their ministry issued in a great revival in the church in Hong Kong. Previously there had been about three hundred in the meetings. As a result of the revival the number increased to between two and three thousand. There was a special blessing upon the church in Hong Kong" (Vol. 26 of The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, p. 449). The content of these meetings includes handing over oneself for the preaching of the gospel, release from the bondage of money, the whole Body rising up to serve, spiritual ministry, and arrangements concerning various aspects of church service. Every chapter is weighty in content and fresh in revelation. Since the messages in these two volumes were released at a time when Watchman Nee's ministry was in its mature stage, we have named these two

volumes "Matured Leadings in the Lord's Recovery." They form the final volumes in this series of The Collected Works of Watchman Nee.

TALKS WITH CO-WORKERS FROM HONG KONG AND CANTON, AUGUST 1949 AND NOVEMBER 21, 1949 CHAPTER ONE A TALK WITH CO-WORKERS FROM HONG KONG AND CANTON (1) Date:Monday evening, August 29, 1949 Place:Canton CONCERNING FEELINGS Learning Not to Go Along with Too Many Feelings Chou Kang-Yao: I am very conscious of myself when I stand on the platform, and I am not able to overcome this feeling. Watchman Nee: We have to learn to deny living according to feelings. Our feelings may be right some of the time, but in essence they are deceptive. We should not look for truth among deceptions, because we can never find it. Satan can speak some truths, but we have to reject everything that comes from his mouth because in essence he is a liar. Even when he speaks the truth, he speaks it for the purpose of deceiving others. We have to calm down our feelings completely. This requires the breaking of the outer man. The spirit is surrounded by the soul, just as a hand is surrounded by a glove. A glove must be empty before a hand can get into it. If a glove has something in it, how can it receive a hand? Similarly, if our mind, emotion, and will are filled with thoughts, feelings, and opinions instead of being empty and available, when the spirit needs to use them, it will find itself bound. Under such circumstances, it is hard to have right judgments. In order to have right judgments, we need to "let this mind be in [us], which was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:5). This means to have the mind of Christ. We can only improve in judgment when we take the mind of Christ as our own. In order to improve our utterance, we have to be enlightened within. Our inner being has to

shine with light. Only then will our judgments be accurate. We treasure accurate judgments, but such judgments come from practice, not from gift. If the foot is wearing the shoe, the foot will feel very comfortable. But if the shoe is "wearing" the foot, no one can take a step forward. The shoe must fit the foot; no one can trim the foot to fit the shoe. If feelings are improper, the spirit cannot be free, because the spirit will be bound by the feelings. Rather than being directed by the spirit, the soul will be directing the spirit. The Feelings Must Match God's Light Lo Yi-xin: Since the work started in Canton, I have felt quite useless within myself. I cannot do anything, and I do not know how to begin any work. On the one hand, I am afraid of making mistakes. On the other hand, I am afraid of being counted as unfaithful in my responsibility. I feel that I need a mentor, a teacher to guide me. I am willing to learn and follow. Watchman Nee: Your feelings should be strengthened. Your condition is different from Brother Chou's. He has too many feelings and should learn to deny them. You do not have enough feelings. Although you have some feelings, they are not strong enough. Our feelings should match the light we receive from God. Once we realize that we are truly weak, we will be conscious of our real impotence. If the Lord grants us a little light concerning what we are, we will receive great profit; this profit will be more than what we could learn by ourselves in twenty years. What we really need is light. If light increases, we will see our weakness in a clearer perspective. We will be humbled to such an extent that no weakness will be a barrier to us. When we have not learned our lessons well enough, our feeling of weakness can be a hindrance to us. But once our weakness breaks out and spreads like leprosy, then we are healed. When our feeling of weakness is light, it is a hindrance to us; we feel that we can still do something and that there is still something about which we can boast. When the feeling of weakness overwhelms us, however, this feeling will no longer constitute a hindrance. God's power is manifested when we are down to our weakest point. Actually, not many people understand Paul's experience in 2 Corinthians 12:9. Psalm 4:1 says, "You made room for me when I was in straits." The feeling of weakness must reach a stringent point before we find "room" being made for us. It takes at least three to five years, perhaps even eight to ten years, before we can understand this. We cannot be impatient. God has to bring us to the valley of weakness before we can be brought to a spacious land.

What is death? It is being weak to the uttermost. We can know about the crucifixion with Christ without knowing the meaning of weakness. In such a case, crucifixion with Christ is merely a doctrine. There is no such thing as knowing death without knowing the meaning of weakness. You can go on the same way as you have in the past. You do not have to ask the Lord to make you stronger. On the contrary, you should ask the Lord to increase your feeling of weakness so that you can be brought to a spacious place. May God show you not only your powerlessness but His gracious power as well.

THE NEED TO BE STRICT AND DESPERATE IN GOD'S WORK James Yen: For the past few months I have not learned anything. My personal walk and my work in the past have been merely a kind of outward pursuit. As our brother pointed out in Kuling, I only have a kind of emotional appreciation; there is no real consecration. When I am not working, I fall into passivity and laziness; but when I work, I am condemned. What is the way to my deliverance? Watchman Nee: My advice is for you to keep on working, because the more you hold yourself back, the more there will be leaks and holes. The real lessons a person learns do not come from retreats or "spiritual" meditation; a man cannot wait until he has improved before joining the Lord's work. It never works this way. If we want to wait until we have reached a certain standard, we may find that we have less and less in our hands as time goes on. We advance by learning and working from our present position; we do not attain a certain standard and then begin to work. I hope that you can be desperate. Forget about the feeling of condemnation. If you look at yourself you will leak and drift further. You must not wait. Once you wait, you become more lax. You have to gird up yourself. Everyone who was used by God in the past centuries was a strict person. There should not be any lethargy in the Lord's work. Brother Ke-san is responsible for the work in Foochow. Some do not feel happy about this. They even ask, "Why has he been appointed as a responsible one?" He has his virtues, however. He never stops or rests. He is very strict with himself. While others fall, he remains standing. We all know that his physical health is not good. We may apply the cliché, "He does not have enough food to last another day," to others, but with him we can say, "He does not have enough energy to last another day." He is a man whose energy does not extend beyond

the day. He works beyond his own measure; nevertheless, it is because of him that the leadership in the Fukien region has been established in the past year. Brother Witness is also strict. It is not easy for him to be knocked down. He is willing to pay the price, to be desperate, and to not spare himself. He often says that a man cannot make the excuse that his health is poor. Whatever he wants to do and whatever he says he will do, he always gets done. If one way does not work, he finds another way. He is so desperate that he is not discouraged by anything. I advise you to learn from these two brothers. Apply yourself to the work in a desperate way. Do not wait. The more you wait, the emptier you will become. BEING STRICT IN THE WORK AND RELAXED IN FEELINGS Mrs. Yen: The Lord has opened the way for me to do more visitation recently, but I feel that I do not have any co-worker to coordinate with me. Various limitations in the environment and a sense of inadequacy within have limited me from rendering much practical help to others. When I do not visit, I feel condemned. When I do visit, I feel very weak. Recently, I have seen that I am short of obedience. I love to argue and reason, and every time I argue and reason, I find myself unable to submit. Watchman Nee: Your condition requires two different dealings. What I mean is this: In conducting your work you have to be strict, but in dealing with your feelings you have to be relaxed. If you become tense in your feelings, you will bring suffering to yourself. If this frigidity is pushed to the extreme, no one will be able to touch you. When a rubber band is not fully stretched, there is room for more stretching, and it does not give any noise when plucked. If it is fully stretched, however, it will make a sharp noise the minute it is touched. No one will be able to stretch it further; it will break immediately. Since the Kuling training, it has become manifest that you are a person who reacts quickly. You have to learn to trust in God and believe in Him. When something happens, do not be anxious. Do not worry too much and do not consider too much. You also must help Brother Yen be more strict in the work and less tense in feelings. When feelings become too tense, our endurance goes down, and our capacity for more burden is reduced. What is endurance? In the world endurance is expressed in an inward stiffness and outward stoicism toward the slightest stretching. But true endurance leaves more ground for inward stretching by men or by the environment. If you are too

full of your own feelings, you will not have room to accommodate others. You have wasted too much of your feelings on yourself and have left nothing for others. If you can be more reserved in your feelings and do not use them all up, you will find it easy to endure.

THE BREAKING OF THE OUTER MAN FOR GOD'S WORD James Yen: Can a person receive God's word and at the same time promises from Satan? Watchman Nee: Even when we have God's word and promises, we cannot say immediately that this is God's speaking. We have to learn to continually touch God's speaking. Every time we gain some experience, we learn something and acquire some spiritual feeling. Every experience will increase our spiritual perception and make us more accurate in touching God's word. Only those whose outer man is broken can touch divine things accurately. If the outer man is not broken, a person cannot be entrusted with spiritual things. The outer man is always a frustration. All problems hinge on an unbroken outer man. A man of prayer seeks God's will, is broken in the outer man, and is reliable in his spiritual perception. The trouble with us is that we have our outer man—our thoughts, emotion, and will. The spirit does not have a body of its own; it does not have a mind, emotion, and will of its own. When it needs to express itself, it does not have a mind, an emotion, or physical strength of its own. The spirit depends on the mind, emotion, and will of the outer man to express itself. Hence, the spirit is restricted by the outer man. Our spirit cannot be released apart from the outer man. The trouble often is that our spirit is willing but our flesh is weak. In order for the spirit to come out freely, the outer man must be in subjection. The outer man must cooperate with the spirit in this way. Otherwise, when the spirit calls for the emotion, the latter may spin around in its own orbit and not respond to the spirit. The breaking of the outer man is a fundamental experience of a servant of God. We have to see God's revelation and receive His shining. When the outer man is broken, the spirit will no longer suffer any frustration. Many people speak many words in their prayers, but their understanding falls far short of T. Austin Sparks's prompt answer: "Everything depends on the breaking of the outer man." In Matthew 17, the disciples asked the Lord why they could not cast out the demon. They could not understand why the Lord was able to do this in an instant. The Lord answered, saying, "This kind does not go out except by prayer and

fasting" (vv. 19, 21). Yet the Lord did not have to fast and pray; He cast the demon out right away. He could do this because His outer man was broken already. During one visit with Miss Barber, I heard a loud noise coming from downstairs. It interrupted our fellowship. Miss Barber asked me to listen to the noise and the desperate cry. She asked if I knew what it was all about. I said that it sounded like someone praying. She laughed and said, "There is no need to spend so much energy to force God to do something. What is the use of outward commotion when the inner being is not touched at all?" Fasting prayer is a means through which the outer man is put to rest. If the outer man is broken, there is no need of fasting prayer. This prayer merely removes the frustration that is associated with the outer man so that the inner man can be released. Fasting prayer is like crossing the Jordan. Even when water has flooded both banks of the river, we can still ask God to part the water and open up a way (Josh. 3:14-16). If the outer man is broken, there is no need to go through many steps for the inner man to be released. Question: Can a man know if he has any amount of brokenness? Is the extent of brokenness the same eventually for every person? Watchman Nee: Brokenness is a fundamental experience for everyone, but it is also a progressive experience. There is always a line that we can trace in this process. The main thing in this process is shining and revelation from God. When God in His mercy shines on us and reveals Himself to us, we will know. Is the extent of breaking the same eventually in everyone? Of course not! The amount of breaking mainly depends on the lessons each person has learned before the Lord. On the one hand, the breaking of the outer man depends on our consecration. On the other hand, it depends on the amount of work God has done in us. We must give ourselves to learn the lessons before we can have the proper experience. Only those who learn their lessons are able to render help to others.

KNOWING GOD'S WILL Miss Lin Wei-shi: In the past I had many things to say when I prayed. Now I have very little to say. I am confused about God's will. My work supplies little life to others. I find it difficult to stop, yet I find myself too weak to work. Watchman Nee: There are several steps towards knowing God's will. At the beginning of the Christian life, when a man seeks to know God's will, he may

have a strong consciousness that God's will is this or that, but this is not altogether reliable. In the second step, God breaks down this so-called consciousness of God's will so that he begins to learn to trust by a faith that is independent of his own feelings. He has the faith that he is always in God's hand and that he will not be wrong under God's keeping power. He does not have to struggle to avoid making mistakes. If God is the preserving One in him, he will be right whether or not he feels that he is right. No matter how he turns, he can never depart from God's will. He is free from his own feelings, but there is still a long way to go. In our experience we should not be as foolish as a mule, but we should be like a maidservant looking at the hand of her mistress. Yet there are times when we have to go on like a mule. We have to exercise our faith at such times. The reins are in God's hand; He will check us and guide us. We cannot move by ourselves; we have to trust in the Lord all the time. We believe that we are in God's hand. If God does not allow it, we will never take the wrong path. When a man learns to fly a plane, he must follow instructions blindly. If the instructor tells him to go up, he goes up. If the instructor tells him to turn left, he turns left. If the instructor tells him to turn one degree to the right, he turns one degree to the right. The instructor sees everything and knows how to fly. The student only needs to trust and obey. When he steps off the plane, he may say to himself with sweat on his brow, "I could have spared myself the suspense if I had made these judgments myself." But even if he knows the instructions, he still has to be fully at home with all the parts and instruments before he can fly the plane according to his own sight. Before that happens, he can only trust his instructor. We have to learn to trust in the Holy Spirit's restraint. God can never be wrong. We may think that God is wrong in putting us in a certain environment, but eventually we will see that nothing is wrong. As long as life is released, nothing can be wrong. Any kind of environment can release God's life. This was Paul's experience. Whether he was in prison in Rome or in dire circumstances like those described in 2 Corinthians 11, he could equally claim that the Lord's grace was sufficient for him (12:9). Christ was manifested in him, whether through life or through death (Phil. 1:20). FEELINGS AND FACTS Miss Lei: In the past I felt powerful when I spoke for the Lord, but now I do not feel that I have anything within me. I feel weak, and I do not have much to say when I pray.

Watchman Nee: This is not a problem. You only need faith. I believe you are very clear within that you do not have a problem in reality. You are merely going through a transition. Having nothing to say in your prayer may mean that you do not need to say much. Perhaps you only need more faith. You feel weak as if you are nothing. Perhaps God is reminding you that you need more faith. This faith will enable you to pray less strenuously. A Christian should not be bound by his own feelings. He may feel that he does not fare better by praying and that he does not fare worse by not praying. Actually, prayer makes a great deal of difference. When a man knows God more, he will ignore finicky and fleeting feelings. We are communicating with the eternal God. We should not care for fleeting feelings. The facts are objective, while our subjective experience can be wrong. For example, every day we see the sun rising from the east and setting in the west. Actually, the sun never rises from the east or sets in the west. It is our subjective perception that tells us this. If we do not believe in the objective facts and pay attention only to the subjective experiences, we cannot be Christians at all. If a scientist only pays attention to what he sees and ignores the facts behind a phenomenon, he is not qualified to be a scientist. The same can be said of a Christian. A Christian has to learn to constantly free himself from subjective feelings throughout his life. He should only believe in objective facts. We have to know that the objective things that our spirit touches are real, while the subjective feelings may not be real. We have to know facts and should not be led away by feelings. What is contained in Christ's salvation are facts. If we follow our feelings, we will find the way long and tortuous. We may search for years and still not find the way. If we do not see the facts, it will be hard for us to get out of this rut.

We have to realize that the objective facts do not change, but our feelings change. Christ's salvation ushers us into a life in Christ, a life of objective realities. Humanly speaking, the feelings that we possess seem very reliable, but they change; they are not really reliable. We need the spirit, and we need faith. These two things interact with objective facts. Through faith and by the spirit, we touch objective facts and thus are not easily shaken. This requires the breaking of the outer man. If the outer man is not broken, it will be easy for us to live in our feelings and hard for us to find rest.

Let me give you a simple illustration. Suppose I have a need, and I want a brother to help me. To solicit his help, I first try to offer him something as an "incentive," using financial support by deceit as an enticement. I may "feel" that there is nothing wrong in this, but such a "feeling" is altogether wrong. As soon as I touch my conscience, I will know that I am wrong. The conscience is a function of the spirit, and the spirit touches objective facts. The facts are in Christ, in the Bible, in the Holy Spirit, and in God's word. Truth is not in feelings. If I am wrong, I am wrong, whether or not I feel that I am wrong. It is wrong to judge things by what we feel. Our rights and wrongs are found in the Bible. Our life and walk are based on the Holy Spirit. Our history and facts are rooted in Christ. We have to learn to touch these things. With many things, it is not a matter of good or bad, but of being in the Holy Spirit. A good thing is not necessarily life unless it is done in the Holy Spirit. What use is something if it is not done in the Holy Spirit? Without the Spirit, the result is only death. Whether or not something is good should be judged by God's Word. We should ask whether it is according to God's Word instead of whether it satisfies our reasoning. As soon as we live in our reason, we quench all expressions of life. The extent to which a person lives in spiritual reality is inversely proportional to the extent to which he lives in his feelings. The more we live in spiritual reality, the more we will be free from living by our feelings. There is no need to analyze too much whether or not we are living in spiritual reality or in our feelings. As a rule of thumb, we should ignore our feelings altogether when we are not clear. On our part, we should not live by our feelings. On God's part, He will break our outer man. All feelings and deception come from the outer man. As soon as the outer man is broken, these deceptions no longer frustrate our inner man, because the inner man is able to take care of itself. The fundamental lesson we have to learn is to not listen to the outward feelings, but to simply live in the Holy Spirit and in the facts. We should say "Amen" to whatever the Bible says about our life in Christ. Believe that it is true. I may be in Hong Kong physically, but I should have the sense that I am living in the heavens. I only know Ephesians 2, which says that we are raised up together with Christ and seated with Him in the heavenlies (v. 6). I do not trust in my feelings. I reject my feelings. If we persist in this for three or five years, our feelings will wither and fade away. Once these feelings subside, the facts will gain ground. The more we ignore our feelings, the less momentum they have

and the less they can assert themselves. The more we pay attention to our feelings, however, the more we will be beaten down. We should not pay attention to these feelings. We should only lay hold of the facts. In conclusion, your question is a big one. It is not easy for you to ask, and it is not easy for me to answer. Lo Yi-xin: If a Christian is put in a painless environment and still feels pain, is this pain just his feeling? Watchman Nee: Since the Bible says that a Christian should rejoice always, we should learn to not have any painful feelings. We should be free from painful feelings. It is not a matter of whether or not the environment is painful. It is a matter of God's Word. Whatever God's Word says, we should be. His Word says that we should be anxious for nothing and that the Lord is near. Even if the environment is painful, we should still rejoice. Sister Tseng Wen Su-chi: It is easier to neglect personal prayer than corporate prayer. What should we do? Watchman Nee: We cannot skip personal prayer just because it is easy to do so. We should still have private, individual prayers. As for corporate prayers, I hope that the co-workers can come together to pray once a day. They should also come together to read the Word.

CONCERNING SPIRITUAL ATMOSPHERE Question: In my work, I find that there often is the need but that I lack boldness. What is the root of my problem? Watchman Nee: Whether or not our work is a success or a failure depends on whether we bring a proper atmosphere to a place or whether the atmosphere in a place affects us. The church in Canton has its own atmosphere. The church in Hong Kong also has its own atmosphere. When we move from Hong Kong to Canton, do we allow the Canton atmosphere to get into us, or do we bring our atmosphere to the church? This is not a performance. We are not drumming up a certain kind of atmosphere purposely. Such promotion is false. Yet at the same time, we cannot passively allow the local atmosphere to affect us. Otherwise, we will be subdued. We have to carry a spirit of freedom with us wherever we go, yet we should not pretend or perform. The human body needs fresh air in order to live and move freely. Spiritually speaking, we also need fresh air to feel free and refreshed. Whenever I go to a new place, I always check the spiritual "air" in that place. I try to find out whether

the atmosphere is fresh and living. In order to have fresh "air," we have to learn to not offend the Holy Spirit. We must also learn to not offend the atmosphere that is brought in by Him. It is a serious thing to offend the Spirit or the atmosphere brought in by Him. We may find that a place has some needs, but feel weak and unable to do anything about them. As a result, the Holy Spirit will not have a spiritual atmosphere in which to release Himself, and this will cause the "air" in that place to be contaminated. If we ignore our feeling of weakness, the Holy Spirit will secure a proper spiritual atmosphere to release Himself. When the atmosphere is right, it is easy to work. Therefore, the first thing we should do when we get to a place is to bring in a proper atmosphere, an atmosphere of the Spirit. Then we can work freely. Let me repeat, however: This is not a performance. The first thing we should do when we get to a new place is to ignite the fire of the gospel. We must be armed with a gospel spirit. These things are greatly related to the spiritual atmosphere of a place. In the gospel meetings in Hankow, we had six to eight hundred attendants every day. Brother Lan Tsi-yi reported that as soon as a person stepped into the meeting, he felt a different atmosphere; it was totally different from the world. Many people were subdued the very first day. They confessed their sins with weeping and pleaded for salvation on their knees. We must have a gospel spirit before we can light the gospel fire, but there must be a proper atmosphere before we can light the fire. If the atmosphere is wrong, it is hard to ignite the fire. Our efforts only add to the weight of the burden. We have to ask God again and again to show us if we have offended the atmosphere of the Holy Spirit in any matter. Whether or not we can ignite the gospel fire is a serious matter; it is a test from the Lord. This test will show us that nothing can be done in a casual way. Before we do anything, we must first ask whether or not we have offended the Spirit's atmosphere. Let me give another illustration. In one gospel conference, a brother was the song leader during the second meeting. He did not sing well, and the songs were out of tune. Yet the atmosphere of the meeting was wonderful, and dozens and even hundreds of people confessed their sins. On the sixth day the brothers decided to ask this brother to take over the whole meeting. This time it was a failure. He offered a long prayer, and he conducted the singing himself. Afterwards he gave a long message. In the end he sang, gave the altar call, and invited the new ones to write down their names. The result was a fiasco. One

brother reported later that only fifteen minutes of the entire meeting had a right spiritual atmosphere. We must never say or do anything that offends the spiritual atmosphere. When I first was saved, I conducted a ten-day gospel campaign with some co-workers of mine. I learned many things from that campaign. There were many good confessions from many sinners. Even four beggars were saved in a genuine way. Not only do we need the atmosphere of the Holy Spirit in our gospel preaching; we need it in maintaining the church and the work. There is much to learn in this area. Miss Betteridge: I have an inward burden to work for the Lord, but I am overwhelmed by the environment. I do not have a co-worker to work together with me, and I cannot find anyone that can pray with me in one accord. As a result, I have become cold and dead.

Watchman Nee: The few of you in Hong Kong bear a great responsibility. I would like to mention one thing about the meetings in Manila, Singapore, and Hong Kong: The atmosphere in these places is wrong. It has never been right. The meeting in Amoy is a little better. Sometimes the atmosphere is right, and sometimes it is wrong. Whenever I passed through the above three places, the atmosphere always was wrong. The co-workers in Hong Kong have to bear the responsibility for turning around the atmosphere. In Hong Kong the atmosphere makes everything cheap; no one pays much attention to spiritual things. A spiritual thing may be very precious in another place, but in Hong Kong, it becomes cheap. This despising attitude gives me a serious doubt as to your knowledge of the spiritual atmosphere among you. What is an atmosphere? One sister came to Kuling last year. This year she came again. She said, "I feel that God is very near to me in Kuling. The spiritual things are very weighty and precious here. But once I return to my own locality, I no longer feel that God is so near to me, and the spiritual things are not as precious. Since I am back in Kuling, I sense the nearness of God and the seriousness of spiritual things once more." Brother Kaung is here. Please forgive me for saying a frank word. The work in all of south China is somewhat frivolous. Man's natural tendency is to be frivolous. For this reason you should not be loose. You should not do anything to encourage others in the direction of frivolity. If you cannot do this, you will find as you work in Southeast Asia and in Hong Kong that you may serve others with a bowl of bitter herbs, but they will not feel that they are bitter at

all. They may even think that you are serving them a dessert. If a man is not serious about spiritual things, he will destroy what you have built up the minute you leave the place. One Shanghai brother returned from Hong Kong to Shanghai and said, "Our brothers in Hong Kong are somewhat like members of the YMCA." This may be too much, but it does speak somewhat of the tendency of that place. We are Christians in Christ, and we have to maintain our distinctive characteristics; we must not pick up the local flavor. Rather, we have to overcome it. We have to take the strict way. We should not make others feel that we are basically the same as them. We have a few brothers here who are very good brothers. As long as we can bring them into a proper spiritual atmosphere, all problems will be solved. In order to have a spiritual atmosphere, we have to bear a heavy responsibility. The co-workers must come together to pray at least two or three times a day. We should not be loose. Study the Word together in one accord. If the fellowship among the brothers is lacking, we cannot expect the ministry of the word to be strong. THE WAY TO WORK—PERFECTING OTHERS In conclusion, the basic need of the work in Hong Kong is for the co-workers to come together more to pray and to study the Word. Next, they need to produce men and perfect them. In addition to the regular church meetings, we have to pick out three to five relatively mature ones among the brothers and sisters. Every week we have to be with them for three to five times to cultivate and perfect them. We have to spend the time to perfect them one by one. This means that, in addition to the church meetings, we have to produce men to do the same things that we are doing. The Lord Jesus is our good pattern. He did not set up any church Himself; He only produced twelve men, and then later seventy others, to do the work of preaching. Eventually, one hundred twenty people were perfected. These ones brought in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in one accord at Pentecost. The church was produced, and in a short time, three thousand and then five thousand more were gained. In perfecting others we have to pay attention to sanctifying ourselves. In three months' time we will see that all the ones we are perfecting will be just like us. Whatever our work may be, the same requirement applies to the person doing the work. We have to be strict and disciplined. This is the only way we can produce anything. We have to be strict in everything. Otherwise, there will be no hope for our future. The book of Matthew has twenty-eight chapters which

basically speak of how to be a disciple. We have to do our best to learn to be a disciple. INSTRUCTIONS FOR VISITATION Visitation is an important work. In visiting others, we should not talk about our family affairs, much less the family affairs of those we are visiting. It may not be that damaging if they bring up such things and we merely listen. But if we talk about such things, this will not bring in any profit, either to us or to them. We are not making visitations like social workers in the YMCA. We visit men as servants of the Lord. We should not speak about worldly things, but instead, we should give them spiritual food. Perhaps we should sit down to read the Word with them or pray with them. After I was saved, a brother frequently came to see me. Every time he came he read a chapter of the Bible with me, and then he gave me a word of encouragement and exhortation. This stirred up my interest for the Word. If anyone is hurt by anything, we can do our best to render him some help, but we should avoid social visitations. The church is a place with enough gossip already. If we add more, we will easily ruin its spiritual life. In visiting others, we should never try to answer their spiritual questions too quickly. The purpose of visitation is not to solve spiritual problems. Do not go with the intention of expounding the Bible. If you are not sure of certain things, just say in a simple way that you do not know. You should ask the others to go to the Lord more and seek light and revelation. Give them a spiritual touch. It is better to visit in coordination with a few. If we cannot find a partner, we can still go alone, but we have to be on the alert that we are bringing men to the Lord all the time.

CHAPTER TWO A TALK WITH CO-WORKERS FROM HONG KONG AND CANTON (2) Date:Tuesday evening, August 30, 1949 Place:Canton THE CONDITION OF THE BODY AND THE MANIFESTATION OF THE LIFE OF CHRIST Mrs. Weigh: I feel weak physically all the time. This frustrates my spiritual walk. What should I do? How can I know the resurrection power of Christ?

Watchman Nee: Your problem does not lie in your question. You have to realize that the life of Christ which a Christian expresses is not limited by time, environment, or conditions. A healthy person can manifest the life of Christ through his health. A normal person can manifest the life of Christ through his normal condition, and a sick person seriously ill in bed can also manifest the life of Christ through his trying condition. True spirituality is not affected by any kind of condition at all. It is wrong to think that a person only can live a proper spiritual life when everything is in order. If there is no hope, one should not cherish unreal expectations. You do not need to wait for your health to get better to live the life of Christ. A busy mother does not have to wait until all her ten children are grown up before she pursues a spiritual walk. A busy shopkeeper does not have to wait until he is the boss of his business before he can serve God. A single man does not have to wait until he is married to serve the Lord without distraction. By the same token, those who have a wife should not think that it is easier to live the Christian life by being single. Some have good health, yet they do not manifest the life of Christ. This shows that expressing this life does not require a certain, set environment. One can express the life of Christ in strength, in weakness, or in a normal condition. Some people think that they have to wait for the environment to change for the better before they can live a proper spiritual life. This is wrong. This is like those who say that they will believe in Jesus only if their circumstances change for the better. They say they will believe if they sin less or if they become more moral. We would exhort such ones not to wait; they can believe in Jesus in spite of their present condition. Enoch walked with God for three hundred years and begot sons and daughters (Gen. 5:22). The Lord Jesus also told us that those who will be raptured will not be taken at the time they are reading the Bible or praying but while they are in the field and grinding at the mill (Matt. 24:40-41). These verses show us that there is no need to have a new environment or a certain set of conditions to express the life of Christ. We should not cherish false hopes or think that we can live a spiritual life only when our environment is perfect. Today the Lord is sovereign over our physical condition. Whether our condition is good or bad, His intention is that we express His life through it so that this life will prove to be victorious over everything. The so-called discipline of the Holy Spirit is carried out in this condition. The Lord's intention is that we do our best to express His life in the midst of these very circumstances. You are physically weak and cannot be too active, but you should not be condemned in your

conscience. Outward activities can decrease, but your fellowship with the Lord and your contact with Him should not decrease. Your touch with God cannot diminish in any way. If you are so weak that you cannot make it to the meeting, simply stay at home as long as you are clear within that this is right. You must be persuaded and convinced within yourself. Paul said in Ephesians 2 that God has raised us up with Christ and seated us together with Christ in the heavenlies (v. 6). This word means that a believer receives a transcendent life. It would be wonderful if God granted you the grace of a sanguine and healthy body. But if He does not give you a healthy body, and instead leaves you as you are, you should humble yourself before Him. This is the discipline of the Holy Spirit, and it is upon you so that you will learn to express the transcendent life of Christ. Hebrews 6 says that God's children can have a taste of the power of the age to come (v. 5). Indeed, today we should enjoy God's divine healing. However, we should believe Him even when He does not heal us. The Lord Jesus did not promise to heal Paul's thorn. Instead, He promised him sufficient grace (2 Cor. 12:7-9), which is actually the resurrection power of Christ. One can only experience this sufficient grace when there is a thorn. Generally speaking, it is easy for a new believer to experience healing through prayer. This is not because his faith is greater than that of more mature ones; it is because the Lord wants him to know Him as Lord. A long-time believer, however, may not receive healing so readily. In fact, often it is very hard for him to receive healing. This does not prove that his faith is small. It merely means that the Lord has a higher standard for him. This is like the experience of leading men to salvation; it is easy for a new believer to witness for the Lord and to bring men to Christ. It is hard for a long-time believer to do the same. Like the disciples, he has to pray earnestly for ten days before he can lead someone to the Lord (Acts 1:14). In some cases, healing depends on the atmosphere at the time. During a time of revival, outward miracles usually accompany God's presence, and it is easy to experience healing. For example, immediately after Pentecost, Peter and John healed the lame man lying at the door of the temple which is called Beautiful (Acts 3:1-8). Even their shadow became a means of healing to others (5:15-16). However, God's salvation not only heals the body. It mainly heals man's soul and spirit so that he can have a rich entrance into God's kingdom (2 Pet. 1:11). Paul's handkerchiefs and aprons were able to heal people (Acts 19:11-12). Yet when Timothy was sick, Paul did not send his handkerchief or apron to cover Timothy's

stomach. On the contrary, he advised Timothy to use regular means (1 Tim. 5:23).

CONCERNING THOUGHTS Brother Kaung, is there something that you want to say? Brother Kaung: I do have something to say. But you do not have to be limited to my question. You can cover as wide a scope as possible in your answer. First, there are many contradictions in my personal life. On the one hand, I do not believe I am very active in my thoughts. On the other hand, I do think quite much. Now I am learning to read the Bible continuously without trying to think too much. Second, I feel that I am not that much on fire for the work. Watchman Nee: There is a big difference between accepting and not accepting God's breaking. Human power is limited. A man does not have an unlimited capacity to think. Sometimes your thinking can bring you to a dead end; you hit the wall and do not know how to go on. The reason you feel this way is that you have exhausted your mental energy without realizing it. If a man spends too much time on one thing, he will not have time to think about other things. This is the reason we repeatedly emphasize the need for the outer man to be broken. Often the problem with thoughts is not in the mind but in the heart. This is because the heart controls the mind. Proverbs 4:23 says, "Keep your heart with all vigilance,/For from it are the issues of life." We can say that our heart represents our very self. A man's thoughts are directed by his heart. When we say that a man has a problem with his thoughts, we are actually saying that he has a problem with his heart. A bad heart is the cause of sickness in the mind. It does not help to deal with the thoughts alone; this will only take care of the symptom. The basic solution is to deal with the root. Once the heart is right before God, the thoughts are right. At the time of our regeneration, we were given a new heart and a new spirit by God. The new heart gives us a new life and new inclination to serve God. But through neglect, our heart sometimes becomes evil again; it loses its purity before the Lord. Our heart controls our mind. When the heart goes astray, the thoughts follow. In Matthew 12:34 the Lord Jesus said, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Rash words are unhealthy, but in reality it is not the words themselves that are unhealthy; rather, it is the heart that is sick. Some sisters realize that their words are not right; they try to deal with their words. But it is not

enough for one to merely hate his or her own words. It is useless to try to deal with words per se. Such a sister must be willing to deal with her heart. Once her heart is dealt with, the problem with her speaking and her words will go away. The same can be said about our thoughts. A little leaf can block the ray of the sun. A little sin can cover up God's light and turn the heart astray. Once the sin of the heart is dealt with, everything will fall into place. The mind is controlled by the heart. It is impossible for the heart to be in one condition and the mind to be thinking about something different. After one's heart has been dealt with, he has to learn to control his thoughts. A servant of God must have a high power of concentration. He cannot waste his thoughts carelessly. Miss M. E. Barber once said, "When Satan takes over our thought life, he takes over our whole life." There is a limit to the amount of mental energy we can expend. If we allow our thoughts to wander and roam unchecked, we will find that we cannot focus our mind when we are called to serve in prayer. Satan will seize the opportunity to inject fiery darts into our mind through the outward events. We will fall into Satan's hand and be defeated. If our outer man is not broken, we will always react to outward stimuli. We will feel that thoughts are always frustrating us and that we are always being drained away. When we try to serve as a minister of the word, we will find our thoughts failing us. We will fail not because we have too much to say and do not know how to say it. We will fail because our thoughts are too poor. We should not think that our problem is that we are not smart enough. The real reason is that our outer man is not broken and our mind is not under the control of the spirit. After we bring our thoughts into focus, there is still a need to get into the thoughts of God's Word. The breaking of the outer man enables us not only to focus our thoughts but also to enter into the burden of the Spirit. If we have not touched the burden of the Spirit, all our thoughts summoned together will not qualify us to be used by the Spirit. Once the outer man is broken, there is no more self activity or subjective thoughts. Then we can touch the burden in the Spirit, and the life and power contained in God's Word will flow out through our speaking.

SPIRITUAL FIRE Concerning the second point, that is, spiritual fire, I would like to say this: Fire relates to supply. Individually, it depends on our consecration. Corporately, it depends on fellowship, or the supply in the ministry. If there is no problem with our personal consecration, it may be God's leading that we should seek His

supply. Corporately speaking, the matter of fire relates to fellowship. Without fellowship there is no fire. When we are in fellowship, we touch the fire. This is not a matter of gift, but of ministry. Where there is ministry, there is fire. Ministry is corporate. There is more in ministry than in individual pursuits, but we will cover this later. First, consider the individual aspect. Individually, we only need to check our consecration. If there is a problem with our consecration, there is a problem with the spirit. There must be an absolute consecration. Otherwise, there is no fire. Fire is from the Lord. The Lord casts this fire on earth. This fire is also the gospel. It enables us to serve, to withstand persecution, and even to sacrifice our lives. On the personal side, fire depends absolutely on our consecration. The amount of consecration we offer on the altar determines the intensity of the fire. If consecration is lacking, the fire will not come. Therefore, we cannot hold back anything in our consecration. Consecration, in turn, comes from light. We consecrate to God according to the light we have received. We can only consecrate according to what we have received, according to what our spiritual eyes can see. The light we see comes from our fellowship with God. Through constant fellowship, God shines on us and grants us revelation. When we are under His shining, we see His demand and consecrate ourselves to Him voluntarily. Then God sends down His fire to take up our consecration. Hence, fire comes from God and is communicated to us through consecration; we do not light the fire ourselves. This is the fire on the altar. Once the sacrifice is on the altar, the fire comes. Consecration is not a onetime act, but a continual act. In the beginning we do not know what we should consecrate. Gradually, we receive more light, and we consecrate more, and our consecration becomes more absolute. The stronger our consecration is, the greater is the fire on the altar. Consecration follows shining. The amount of shining we receive determines the degree of consecration we render. Our consecration must match the light that God has given us. Individually, when we put everything on the altar, the fire comes. Between the light and the fire, there is the need of consecration. If consecration follows the light, immediately there is fire. The stronger the consecration, the easier it is for the fire to start. Once the fire starts, others will catch it easily. If our next-door neighbor's house is on fire, it is easy for ours to catch fire. This fire will turn even hard wood into hot flames. If a person tries to fan a spark before it develops into a flame, the fire will be killed. However, the more rubbing and friction there is, the

easier it is to catch a fire. This is the reason we have to rub each other until we are red-hot. The hotter we become, the more fire there will be. If we are cold, fanning will only quench the fire; it will not build the fire. No one should seek for fire. As long as we have enough consecration and as long as we have enough friction, we will have the fire. If the spiritual pathway is too easy and relaxed, the fire of the gospel will be extinguished. The more we go on in the spiritual pathway, the more we should not consider ourselves as experienced or matured. If we think that we have consecrated enough, we will quench the fire on the altar. In the Old Testament God commanded that the fire on the altar must not go out day or night (Lev. 6:12-13). The entire life of a Christian, from the time he first believes to the time he goes to the Lord, must be accompanied by fire. In Mark 8:35 the Lord said, "Whoever will lose his soul-life for My sake and the gospel's...." This is not only for the Lord's sake but also for the gospel's sake. Paul was an apostle who was consecrated for the gospel's sake. He said, "And I do all things for the sake of the gospel that I may become a fellow partaker of it" (1 Cor. 9:23). The more he advanced in his spiritual life and the deeper his life took root, the more the fire of the gospel burned in him. Paul said that he was a called apostle separated unto the gospel of God (Rom. 1:1). The gospel not only includes saving sinners from hell, but every aspect of God's gospel, including salvation, sanctification, justification, the church, etc. The gospel covers a wide scope. Paul said that he was the foremost among sinners, yet he was called to be a pattern to other believers (1 Tim. 1:16). He also said that he was less than the least of all saints, yet he received grace to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel (Eph. 3:8). These verses show us that the Lord has called us for the gospel. I have to shout aloud that we need to bring in a gospel spirit. This is the only way for the brothers and sisters to go on. Unless we have this spirit, our preaching will be like children playing with toys. In Foochow the fire of the gospel has been ignited. The church not only must preach the gospel but must touch the gospel spirit. In order to touch the gospel spirit, the only way is for us to have a fresh consecration. The author of the book Seen and Heard, Mr. M'Kendrick, was a miner. He did not even attend an elementary school, but he was a totally consecrated person. Within him was the gospel fire. His heart was filled with a burning zeal for saving souls. Once, while he was on the platform, he could not utter a word. As he

looked around at the unsaved people sitting before him, he began to cry, and tears rolled down his cheeks like torrents. In the end he only shouted a word or two. God's Spirit filled the entire congregation. All were convicted of their sin and waywardness. We should not be afraid of shouting. John the Baptist shouted in the Gospels. The Lord Jesus also shouted. The apostles shouted many times in Acts. Although Brother M'Kendrick did not have much education or gift, he had the gospel spirit, and countless numbers of people were saved through him. A young person may not have the gift of Moody, Finney, or Spurgeon, but he can learn to be a M'Kendrick. A young brother may not necessarily have the gift of the gospel, but he must have the spirit of the gospel. In church history God raises up great evangelists only once in a long while. But every lover of the Lord should and must have a gospel spirit. On the one hand, we should increase our gospel preaching. On the other hand, we should increase our consecration. Our consecration cannot stop. Once we stop our consecration, the spirit of the gospel will stop. In order to recover the gospel, we have to recover consecration. Both things have to be absolute in us. Our foolishness lies in the misconception that we are behind the early church only in the power of the gospel; actually, our consecration comes far behind the early disciples as well. May the fire of God's gospel continue to burn in us. May it ignite you and me first. May the church not become a hindrance to the world's salvation, but a channel through which the Lord is dispensed to the world.

EVERYONE WORKING ACCORDING TO THE MEASURE THAT HE HAS RECEIVED FROM GOD Brother Weigh, do you have any problem? Brother Weigh: I have three questions. First, I feel that my spiritual condition does not match what I know, what I teach, or what I have heard. Second, I feel that it is very hard to have some spiritual weight or worth. In the past, I was satisfied as long as I had a work to occupy me or a platform for me to speak. For example, when the church in Hong Kong began to meet in the new building, I was very satisfied. Now I feel that I am not able to meet the demand. Of course, I must admit that Hong Kong is not a place where an ordinary person can work, but I should not live in the realm of my own concepts. Third, I do not feel that I have the ability to take the lead in the work of the entire south China region. It would be better to find some stronger brothers to come and take the lead in the work here.

Watchman Nee: First, let us talk about the work here. Let me point out that while ability has some relationship to work, the correlation is not absolute. The work belongs to God, and God works according to His own principle. His principle is to use whatever is available. In using men, God can only use those who are available, not those who are not available. We should not expect some who are not available to come. If a local church only has blind, lame, and deaf ones, we should be satisfied that such ones would rise up. The Lord has given a gift to every saved person. Even the blind, lame, and deaf have one talent. It is a matter of how to draw out their talents. Perhaps a few people in the church have five talents, but we almost have to wait for a hundred years before we can come across a few of these great gifts. However, if we add five one-talented ones together, we will have the same amount of gift as the five-talented one. Today our job is to stir up all the one-talented ones. We have to draw out everyone's portion. There are more people here than in northwest China, but geographically, northwest China is much larger, and it is much harder for the saints to take care of the need there. For this reason you should not expect very gifted co-workers to come. You should work as much as you can with the people you have. Basically, you do not need able, strong, and gifted co-workers, but brothers who can lead and get things started. No one should be slothful in zeal. All must work together in one accord in coordination. I have a few suggestions. First, the co-workers should never neglect prayer. Second, they must come together to study the Word. Third, there should be suitable arrangements in the work. Fourth, you must be strict and severe with yourselves in the work. Do not be loose. Once you are loose, others will become loose as well. You have to be relaxed in your person, but strict and serious in your work. This is how you can go on and how you can have enough serving ones to meet the need. The service of the church is a corporate service. No one worker can single-handedly raise up the whole church. We should not do a work like Christianity, in which one worker is sent to a specific place to work. Some of our co-workers should receive the burden from the Lord to travel and make visits within certain districts. The trouble in the past was that the workers who were visiting were not broad enough in their heart. This is wrong. When we go to a place, our heart should be there inasmuch as our body is there. But there are some co-workers who do not put their heart into where they are. This is one of our problems. We have to correct this. At any rate,

the Acts of the Apostles starts from chapter one, not from chapter thirteen. Jerusalem is our proper guideline in the work. We should have a center for our work, and the local ones should rise up to serve.

BEING ABLE TO PERFECT OTHERS In order to raise up the one-talented ones, instead of letting their talent remain hidden in the earth, there is the need of perfecting trainings and spiritual education. We need prayer meetings and Bible-study meetings that perfect men. In perfecting the saints, we should not select just the ones who are in high positions, who have money, who have worldly experience, or who are competent in the world. Instead, we should choose those who have spiritual perception, spiritual understanding, and who have made spiritual advancements. Moreover, they have to be consecrated. There is a brother in Shanghai who is not very capable, but he has spiritual perception, and his understanding is perfect. He is actually more qualified than many so-called experienced ones. The way to judge a man is to see if he is consecrated, if he has spiritual perception, and if his heart is perfect. Some are willing to consecrate in this way, but they are not very smart. Among those who meet these qualifications, we have to select a few. We have to work on them particularly. Sometimes we have to work on them together, and sometimes we have to work on them separately. They all must be able to do better than us. It does not matter if they do not do well in the beginning. After a few times they will improve. The fallen mentality thinks that only we ourselves can do a job, but we have to perfect others to do it and help them to do it. Perfect a few, and then charge them to help others to do the same. The four Gospels show us clearly that the Lord did not commit Himself to everyone; He only committed Himself to the twelve disciples. The twelve then committed themselves to the hundred and twenty, who committed themselves to three thousand. First John 1:3 says that the disciples have fellowship with the apostles who have fellowship with the Father and the Son. This is the principle. We have to learn from the example of the Lord Jesus and the apostles. If there is an agricultural seminar, it is difficult to ask the president of the country to be the chairman. If there is a symposium of doctors, it is difficult to ask the governor of Hong Kong to be the chairman. Even if these dignitaries came, they could only sit in the last row. Likewise, it would be difficult for us to actively participate in a worldly convention. If we join them, we could only be passive spectators. However, in spiritual matters, we cannot deny that we have learned

more things than some other brothers and sisters. They may be more capable and experienced than we are, but they have to sit in the back to listen to us. Paul charged Timothy to take the lead in Ephesus, and he reminded him to not let others despise his youth in particular, knowing from which ones he had learned (1 Tim. 4:12; 2 Tim. 3:14). We should never measure a man according to worldly standards. In summary, we have to find men who are perfect in heart and who have spiritual understanding. Do not worry about their age; pay attention to their consecration and spiritual perception. If a man does not have spiritual perception, he is of little use in the work. We can perfect a few people one at a time, or we can gather them together and teach them as a group. Paul not only edified the church; he also raised up a few individuals. He wrote to the church in Corinth, but he also wrote to individuals such as Timothy and Titus. He not only traveled among the churches to teach God's kingdom, but he picked out Titus, Timothy, Philemon, and Onesimus, and he perfected them one by one. We can gather brothers and sisters in the countryside to Canton and Hong Kong and train them in the fifty-two lessons for new believers. We can do this in two trainings, with each training being two weeks in length. After they are trained, they can be sent back to the countryside to work. The principle in God's work is to involve ourselves in the work first and then involve others in the same work. If we do not take care of these two steps, we have failed and have come short of God's standard. We cannot say that we have done enough as long as we have worked hard ourselves. We cannot say this. Paul not only worked himself, but he stirred up others to join him in the work. In his Epistles to the Corinthians, we can see that he was pushing others to do the same work. We have to arrange some work for other brothers and sisters to do. We cannot be the only ones who are busy all the time. This approach is ineffective. In a hundred years everyone sitting here will be gone. If no one is perfected to continue our work, what a loss this will be to God! We have to use every means to make others work. We have to learn to take them by the hand in our work. We have to learn to deal with them and gain them. The way is to work, visit, and preach the gospel together with them. We admit that we are all inexperienced in this area. We have to be in fear and trembling, and we have to be very exercised before the Lord. No one can be careless or loose in perfecting others. We should not think that we know everything. We should not think that we can be a teacher by simply reading

textbooks. There was no school for training prophets; all the prophets were raised up by God individually. We can only say that we do not know that much. We are here learning, and we are hoping to bring men to God so that God can have a way in them. We have to be in fear and trembling. We should not order others to do this or that lightly. Instead, we should take the lead to work together with others. It is very presumptuous to think that only we can do something and that no one else can do it. The people that the Lord has given to us are more than what we need. Every one of them is useful. We should not be presumptuous, loose, or careless. However, we should not hesitate to make decisions for fear of making mistakes. We have covered the matter of leadership before. Leadership does not depend on ability. Rather, it depends on: 1) much prayer and diligent study of the Word, 2) the capacity to perfect others and raise them up, and 3) making everyone useful. The way ahead lies on our shoulders. If we are faithful to the Lord, He will get through in us, and the brothers and sisters will have a way to follow us. HELPING ALL THE ONE-TALENTED ONES TO SERVE Can we help all the brothers and sisters rise up to serve? If we can, we will not have any problems. Even if we have more people, we can still handle them. Who can withstand the church when the entire Body rises up to serve? Five can chase a hundred, and a hundred can chase ten thousand (Lev. 26:8). If we can raise up all the one-talented ones, we can absorb as many people as are given to us. Those who are hard and stiff are hard inwardly; outwardly they can be very soft. This is the reason it is not easy to perfect a person. When a person volunteers to serve, he carries with him both his outward and inward attributes. Those who are gifted are usually hard and stiff. We cannot open the door just to outward attributes while ignoring inward attributes. If we do, we will make it hard for others to go on. It takes much work, labor, and prayer to perfect one person. Brother Weigh's personal problems cannot be dealt with quickly. I would consider it very quick indeed if they are dealt with after five years. It may take eight or ten years for some people. Time is a big factor. We should not think that hearing something and understanding it is the end of the story. We have to ask the Lord for much mercy.

CHAPTER THREE A TALK WITH CO-WORKERS FROM HONG KONG AND CANTON (3) Date:August 30, 1949 Place:Hong Kong CONCERNING THE WORK Concerning the key issues related to the work, the first thing I would like to speak about is the coordination among the co-workers. First, the co-workers have to come together to pray much. Second, they have to spend time to study the Word together. Third, the co-workers should meet with the responsible brothers at least once a week to fellowship about the affairs related to the church. In principle, the best way to have the bread-breaking meeting is by districts. The districts should come together once a month at the most. If workers have a financial need, they should not look to man's hand. Perhaps they should look for a part-time job. This is what some people are practicing in the mainland today. At present, the government of the People's Republic has introduced the so-called "Common Policy." It points out four main classes of people: 1) small bourgeois, 2) farmers, 3) nationalistic bourgeois, and 4) workers. These four groups are combined together to run the government. This is the socalled "coalition government of the four classes." It is an imitation of the principle of having all things in common as described in Acts. There is no party and no special interest group. The whole nation is involved in production, and all the products go to the state. In order to meet by districts, we have to look for suitable places. Once we find a suitable place, we can rent it. The church can rent the living room for meeting, while the brothers and sisters can rent the rooms for boarding. We can have prayer meetings, bread-breaking meetings, young people's edification meetings, and gospel meetings. Due to the change in political conditions, there is an overabundance of civil workers and bureaucrats in Hong Kong. All of them do not work on the Lord's Day. Therefore, the best time for us to preach the gospel is on the Lord's Day. I strongly support using the Lord's Day morning as a time for preaching the gospel. This will deliver us from the habit of attending a so-called Sunday-morning service. Workers of the Lord should not be afraid of having too many people.

Rather, our fear should be that the people will not come. If more people come, we can start a new meeting in another place. The workers should have the proper concept that they are not professional preachers; they do not receive a regular salary. The Bible never says that God's workers should receive a salary from anyone. The church does not pay me to do the work of preaching. I am called by God, and I can only look to Him for His provision. This was Paul's way when he said, "If I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a stewardship" (1 Cor. 9:17). The work of a worker is to fulfill the ministry he has received from God, and this ministry is always for the church. The church is not for the ministry; rather, the ministry is for the church. A worker should not work with the intention of bringing the church under the control of his ministry. On the contrary, a worker should serve under the church. Whether one is an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, a shepherd, or a teacher, all work is for perfecting others with the goal that all the brothers and sisters would be able to do what the gifted ones can do (Eph. 4:1112). Today there are four thousand people who have turned to the Lord in Tsingtao. A few workers cannot possibly visit them all. Others must be perfected to do the job. In Shanghai there are now over seven hundred brothers and sisters who are unemployed. Even at ordinary times there are two to three hundred unemployed ones. Perhaps the recent turbulence is actually an interim period that the Lord has provided for us to mobilize the unemployed ones to visit the new believers. If we do not preach the gospel to those who are under eighteen years of age now, it will be hard to work on them after four years. The embryonic stage of the gospel in China was from 1918 to 1922. During this period, the Lord raised up many young lovers of Him in China. Most of them were under twenty years old. I was saved in 1920 at the age of seventeen. Four years later, I would have been in America for my studies. In preaching the gospel, we should not decide how old one should be before he can believe in the Lord. With the political situation changing by the minute, we have to be on the alert even more. The years of 1948 to 1952 may be another period of witnessing the Lord's revival. If we miss this time, it will be hard for us to make it up later. In the Soviet Union the number of believers increased thirty times during the twelve years between 1918 and 1929. During the same time period, Russia's history became very turbulent. Similarly, I am asking you to do the seemingly impossible during this hour of trial. Throughout history, Christians have always

been the ones who seized every opportunity to make gains for the Lord. They have always accomplished impossible tasks. In the mainland, the People's Republic is discouraging gospel work. We are doing our best not to stir them up. We work quietly on people one by one. The Lord has placed the gospel work of China in our hands. If we work harder and stronger, sooner or later He will gain this land. We should try our best to obey, labor, and work with our hands. We should pray much for wisdom from the Lord. Time is short. We do not know when we will lose our opportunity. Everywhere in Southeast Asia there are religious restrictions. British law in Singapore does not allow anyone to preach outdoors. Preaching the gospel in Malaysia is a criminal offense, with the government emphasizing its respect for the religious freedom of the Malaysians. We do not expect these governments to give us any help. Therefore, do not stir them up. We should not do anything to purposely demonstrate our zeal. Instead, exercise wisdom. In east China, the number has multiplied a few fold in Nanking. Among all the provinces in China, Chekiang has the most promising work; the number of churches there is in the hundreds rather than in the tens.

FELLOWSHIP CONCERNING CHURCH AFFAIRS We need to speak two things in relation to church affairs. First, we have to be watchful of the leading brothers. Do not let them take matters too lightly. Second, meetings should be held weekly because a week is a unit for a Christian. CONCERNING THE RESPONSIBLE BROTHERS IN THE CHURCH Brother Hsu is a very good brother. Brother Liao has good recommendations from many sources, but I do not know him and therefore cannot say anything about him. Brother Chien loves the Lord very much, but his experience is not deep enough; it needs to take deeper root. Brother Chen is young but is pure before the Lord. Brother Ku has a good disposition. He does not have a hot temperament, and he is meek. It is easy for him to get along with others. But while he is a friendly person, he cannot exercise such friendliness in managing the church. He is short of one thing—strictness. Everyone who bears responsibility for the management of the church has to be strict. Moses was meeker than any person who lived on earth (Num. 12:3); yet at the same time, he was very strict. When he saw the people worshipping the golden calf, he did not wait for another word to smash the stone tablets. He forced the Israelites to drink

of the ground powder from the golden calf and called upon the Levites to kill their own brothers (Exo. 32:19-29). All the responsible brothers have to be strict. I do not know that much about the spiritual perception of Brother Shang. Has his understanding increased during the past few years? He is also a pure person, a good man. Unfortunately he is short of spiritual understanding. Today if anyone is short of spiritual understanding, he cannot be a responsible brother. Whether or not a man can easily change depends on the amount of spiritual understanding he has. A responsible brother should not hold everything in his own hands. Rather, he should learn to assign responsibilities and to supervise the brothers and sisters in their work. He should not monopolize everything. The responsible brothers should come together at least twice a week. First they should be together one day per week to let the brothers and sisters know that at least they are available. Second, there should be a co-workers' meeting in which the co-workers fellowship about going on in the work and about problems among themselves. The co-workers should take care not to relax in the matter of Christian fellowship. Problems among people and with things should be dealt with and taken care of in a thorough way. No procrastination should be allowed. Every meeting should begin with prayer and end with prayer. The ending prayer should be a prayer that leads to some kind of solution. Arrangements and charges should be made concerning those who are rebellious. Business affairs, once they are made clear after fellowship, should be assigned to the brothers and sisters for execution. Be high in your expectation of the brothers and sisters. It is better to be high than to be low. If the standard is too low, the result will be low even if the standard is attained. Learn from A. G. Gordon, who said that one should put a nail on the wall as high as possible. The responsible brothers have to set a high expectation for the saints. If they do not, the saints will never advance. Business affairs should be based on whether or not it is right to do something, not on whether or not it is hard to do it.

THE CONTENTS OF THE MEETINGS The Christian meeting is a meeting gathered in the Lord's name. The church is the ekklesia, which means "the called-out assembly." A congregation of pew members is not the church. Such a congregation only provides a taste of a Sundaymorning worship service. Unfortunately, I think the meetings in Hong Kong somehow have developed such a taste. Perhaps Hong Kong has picked up

the tradition of the past generations. Sometimes its meetings are almost the same as a congregation of pew members. This is the reason we have to change the Lord's Day morning meetings. Do not allow the brothers and sisters to sit quietly in the meetings; this is the same as not coming to the meeting at all. In the meetings, it is true that the brothers and sisters should not express their own opinions, but neither should they wait for someone to come and help them. Everyone should remember when they come to the meeting that they are coming to serve the Lord and serve the saints. They should not come with an attitude of only listening to a sermon. Next, you have to help many people to function. Everyone should use his one talent. We should not wait for a strong speaker to come. Actually, when a church is weak, it hardly matters whether or not there are strong speakers. Only when the functioning ones in the church are so few does everything depend on speakers. All we need is a strong bread-breaking meeting and prayer meeting; there is no need to always have speakers. The issue is what takes priority. The speaking platform is clearly not the priority. How the next generation fares depends on how this generation behaves. If God has a way among us, those who will be saved will not be like the ones we see today; they will be better. If you are faithful in Hong Kong, you will make the believers in Hong Kong the same as those in Kuling. In Kuling, unless one sheds tears and gives up his worldly possessions, he is not considered genuinely saved. The important thing is not how others criticize us, but how we are before the Lord. Every Lord's Day morning we should preach the gospel. This should last for only thirty or forty minutes. The gospel message should be short. Once it is long, there will be no time to draw the net, and the fish will all jump out of the net. We have to capture the listeners with the Spirit of the Lord. Those who only have a burden to explain doctrines are in the realm of the mind; they cannot break down the strongholds in others' minds. In our preaching we speak to men's minds, yet our main goal is to capture them with our spirit. You can follow the Kuling training in many things, but never in the length of its messages. You should not think that you can extend your time indefinitely as long as you are explaining the teachings clearly. You have to learn to subdue and conquer others with your spirit. If you are merely speaking to others' minds, you will waste much time, and the result will not be that good. The

rest of the brothers and sisters also should learn to support the preaching with the release of their spirit. The bread-breaking meeting should be conducted in the districts. The more we divide, the easier it will be to grow, and the more opportunity there will be for others to serve. If we do not subdivide our meeting into districts, the priesthood will be confined to just a few people. There is the need of a new believers' meeting. All the saints should be treated as new believers in the beginning. Give them lessons. If a brother or sister cannot come, someone has to go to him or her to make up the lesson. If no one makes up the lesson with them, they will not be sustained. In making up the lessons, be thorough and careful. Do not be careless. You have to speak in such a way that they will want to come the next time. Unless you can do this, they will think that coming is optional, and your work will be very loose. The workers should be careful and diligent. This is especially true in Hong Kong. If we are not careful, we will not get anywhere even if Hong Kong is blessed with many people. The present condition in Hong Kong is very precarious. The condition of the gospel is not proper, and the condition of the church is not proper. Consider, for example, the way the new believers' meeting is conducted. It is not serious enough. You are happy as long as the message is released. How can others receive the blessing if this is the way you work? Do you expect to see any fruit at all? If you want remaining fruit, you have to labor in the new believers' meeting in a genuine way. Everywhere in China the new believers' meeting is the strongest meeting. In Hong Kong it is the weakest meeting. Hong Kong should be a place to produce people and money, but it seems that we have labored in vain here. Neither people nor money have been produced. This is because we have neglected the truth. Our words and our actions do not match. Some are able to preach a message on consecration, but they are not able to take the lead in consecration themselves. You have finished your fifty-two lessons for new believers already. What can you give to the new ones next time? May the Lord pardon our shortcomings, and may He shine on us. May He grant us sufficient grace to offer up everything we have to secure His blessing.

CHAPTER FOUR A TALK WITH CO-WORKERS FROM HONG KONG AND CANTON (4) Date:Wednesday evening, August 31, 1949 Place:Hong Kong CONCERNING THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE One can study the Bible alone privately, but he also can study it corporately with the brothers and sisters. The co-workers in particular should spend time together to study the Word corporately. Every time they do this, they should spend at least three hours together. The Keys Compiling and Translating One of the ways to study the Bible is to take a portion of the Word and compile and translate it from scratch. In translating each word, one has to compare the existing Chinese versions word for word. We can consult the writings of a few Bible teachers: Dean Henry Alford's word study, Stephen's New Testament in Greek, Young's Concordance, Newberry's Bible published by the Brethren, and F. G. Grant's and J. N. Darby's expositions. If we are not careful and serious in our study of the Word, we can easily build a message upon a wrong translation of a word. In Romans 1:1 Paul said that he was called by God to preach the gospel of God. In Philippians 1:16 he spoke of the defense of the gospel. In Galatians 1:6-9 he pointed out that those who preached a different gospel should be accursed. Therefore, we should never consider God's Word in a light way; neither should we consider that anyone can expound it at will or preach the gospel from it. Paul told Timothy that the church is the pillar and base of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15) and that this truth is concerning God's divine economy (1:4). The cross, life, faith, truth, and teachings are all included in the gospel of God, which is revealed in the Scripture. The gospel of God encompasses all of God's communications with man. Paul was separated for this gospel, yet he was only a slave. God keeps His enterprise under His own hand. This is the reason Romans 11:34 says, "Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has become His counselor?" God's gospel is God's entire divine enterprise. Paul was a slave in this enterprise. We are called by God to be slaves as well. Therefore, we should not be so presumptuous as to expound the truth by ourselves. If we do, we will become God's counselor.

Word Study The second way to study the Bible is by word study. We have to study every word and phrase in every passage carefully and thoroughly. Consider Romans 1:1. Expressions such as Christ Jesus, slave, called, apostle, separated, and the gospel of God require special attention. We have to find out how many times these expressions are used and under what circumstances they are used. We have to find the Scripture references and teachings behind these expressions and organize them a little. This will give us a basic and clear understanding of the use of these expressions. With the word separated, for example, we can note the process through which God separated Paul: 1) Separated at birth from his mother's womb (Gal. 1:15). 2) Separated to be a vessel at the time of salvation on his way to Damascus (Acts 9:3-19). 3) Separated for the work in Antioch (Acts 13:2). In some cases, the expressions Jesus Christ and Christ Jesus are used interchangeably. However, we should not think that they are the same thing. This work is time consuming. Do not take any expression for granted. If we can dig into a few dozen of these expressions, we will have some foundation in the knowledge of the Bible.

Synthesis The third way to study the Bible is by the way of synthesis. Through synthesis we can trace a line through the Bible. There is a central line in the divine revelation. God's revelation to man comes in many portions and in many ways (Heb. 1:1). It comes a little here and a little there. Every time God's revelation comes to us, it is more advanced than the previous times. Therefore, we have to study in the way of synthesis. We have to find the complete revelation of the entire Bible through synthesis. At the end of the Bible, God's revelation is fully completed. In order to study this way, we have to acquaint ourselves with the divine arguments presented in the Bible. The Holy Spirit has His own line of argument. Paul said that one has to exercise his spirit as well as his understanding in discerning spiritual things (1 Cor. 14:15). Hebrews 5:14 says, "But solid food is for the full-grown, who because of practice have their faculties exercised for discriminating between both good and evil." In order to study the Bible, our faculties must be exercised. Only then will we be able to discriminate between good and evil. In Philippians Paul told us that he not only preached the gospel,

but he was also given to the defense of the gospel. If a man is not properly trained in his understanding, he will be short of arguments and words as soon as he is challenged. The gospel was powerful in Paul, but in us it is poor. This is because our understanding is not fully exercised. We can only synthesize topics that are similar in nature. Those that do not belong to the same group cannot be synthesized together. If we try to synthesize unrelated topics, we will confuse the truth. For example, the four Gospels record the earthly life, ministry, and words of the Lord Jesus. In reading His words, we have to differentiate between commandments and exhortations. We have to differentiate words of righteousness from words of grace (cf. Heb. 5:13). The Epistles were all written by the apostles under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, yet they are not all God's commandments. With God's Word, it is not simply a matter of taking it or leaving it. Paul did not have God's commandment, yet he still spoke God's word (1 Cor. 7:25, 40). Paul could do this because he had been constituted by God through many years. Although he argued and reasoned with the church in Corinth, his word still became a revelation to the church. We cannot wander through the Word mindlessly. We have to follow a definite line. In reading Paul's Epistles, it is very important that we follow his divine arguments and capture his thoughts. The thoughts governing Paul at the time he wrote his Epistles are the thoughts of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 7:40). If we gloss over everything indiscriminately, we will not understand what we have read even after studying it. The problem with us today is that we are too poor in utterance. There should be an abundance of utterance in the church. In order to be rich in utterance, we have to spend time to study the Bible. Bible Versions and Reference Books To study the Bible, one needs good translated versions and reference books. The Chinese Union Version is one of the seven best versions in the world. It is based on the best version of the Greek text. There are several versions that are good for comparison. Of the Chinese translations for reference, the best version is the Wen-Li Union Translation. In many cases, its translation of single-syllable expressions is better than that of the Chinese Union Version. Concerning the Lord's resurrection, it makes a distinction between resurrection, fu-hwo, and raising up, fu-chi. Another version which is also acceptable is the Joseph Shi translation. The translator was a converted Jew who aimed at providing a good translation for the Chinese. He studied Chinese and finished this version all by

himself. It was published over twenty years ago. The expressions he used are not the best; they are somewhat awkward. But the translation is very accurate. Reference books can be read as one has the time. But we must exercise discretion in choosing which ones to read. Some expositional reference books are not that common, and they can be quite deep. For example, Darby's Synopsis of the Books of the Bible renders help to some but is a damage to others. The flow of the Holy Spirit is always advancing. Such reference books should be studied only with proper fellowship. This fellowship will provide the proper protection and safeguard.

CONCERNING PERFECTING OTHERS Our main work lies in perfecting others. Paul said that we have to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom (Col. 3:16). He also said that we should present every man full-grown in Christ in all wisdom with much labor (1:28-29). After men are saved, we have to select some seeking and advanced ones to give them some perfecting. We have to bring them on until their problems are solved. We have to walk with them, go over the fifty-two lessons with them, and nurture and perfect them. Let us learn from Paul's example. His ministry was not a general one; it was very specific. No ministry in the church should be general. Actually, there is no general ministry. There is only one unique ministry, the New Testament ministry (2 Cor. 3:6-11). God speaks in the church and to the church, but His speaking is not for everyone. In the New Testament there are general Epistles to all the churches, such as the Epistle to the Hebrews and the Epistles of Peter. There are also Epistles addressed to specific churches, such as the Epistle to the Ephesians and the Epistle to the Colossians. There are also Epistles to specific individuals, such as the Epistles to Timothy, the Epistle to Titus, and the Epistle to Philemon. Paul wrote not only Epistles but messages. These messages are ministry-oriented; they are for the fulfillment of the stewardship which God committed to him. Some words are for one group of people, while other words are for another group of people. Paul was all things to all men and spoke different things to different people (1 Cor. 9:20-22). Some letters were to be read to more than one church (Col. 4:16). Other letters were addressed to individuals. Some commandments were given to the whole church (1 Cor. 11:16). Other commandments were given to individuals. If one applies the scope wider than it was intended, problems may arise.

CONCERNING THE EDIFICATION OF NEW BELIEVERS The new believers' edification must be closely supervised. If the co-workers are inwardly living and burdened, they can closely supervise the new ones. We must also train a group of more advanced ones to be assistant tutors. These tutors should also be under the supervision of the co-workers. They should follow the leading brothers, first to be edified themselves, and then to edify others. The way to monitor the new ones is to build up various levels of checks. There are leaders, co-workers, and then tutors. The leading ones should check on the coworkers. Each co-worker should check on five tutors, and each tutor should check on ten saints. In this way no one will be left out. You have to make the new believers' edification meeting very living. This is the life pulse of the church. I have often said to Brother Witness that our gospel will come to a standstill if the new believers' meeting is not living. When a new one is not properly edified after coming to the church, he will become a burden to the church. However, if the new believers' meeting is good, the church will be solid, and there will be the sustained impact of the gospel. We should do our best to mobilize everyone for the work of edifying believers. If the work of the church is carried out by all the members, the church will find itself going on in a proper way. But if we are the only ones who are working, and no one else is perfected to work with us, sooner or later we will be exhausted even if we have the proper way. The more the saints are involved in the work of edifying the new ones, the more the church will be revived. If only a few are working, these few will be overburdened to the point of exhaustion. I have tried visiting over thirty people a day. Such exertion can kill a man inwardly. Some may say that they cannot take care of anyone. They may say that they are not capable. But even if they cannot do it, they still have to do it. It is better to do something than to do nothing. Although one may encounter many difficulties, the more he learns, the more he will find the key. Two months ago, Foochow was facing some real difficulties. Some were dead, and others were immobile, but others have experienced a genuine change.

CONCERNING GOSPEL VISITATION Gospel visitation is also an important work of the church. We have to pay attention to a number of points: How do we knock on others' doors? What should be our attitude when we meet others? How should we conduct ourselves in our speaking? How should we respond to different kinds of people? How should we

respond when we have the answer, and how should we respond when we do not have the answer? What should our manner be? How long should we stay in someone's home? (It should be half an hour at the most.) The responsible brothers have to consider these things. When we meet the gospel friends, we can say, "I am coming to you on behalf of the church; the church cares for you and has heard that you have believed in the Lord Jesus. We are very happy about it. The church has sent me to visit you." The visiting ones do not necessarily have to pass on any teaching; they can simply give their own testimonies. If the friends have some problems, there is no need to answer everything. Just say, "I myself have believed in the Lord for only two months. I am also a learner." If many people can rise up to do this work, there will be less idle ones in the church (cf. Matt. 20:1-10). For visitation, there is the need of training. The trainers and the leaders must pray and consider much. Before assigning brothers and sisters to the visitation work, they should seek the Lord. They should know how to lead the saints in this work. When they encounter difficulties, they should fellowship, pray, and seek solutions. The same is true with the overseers. If the visitation work is done in a hurry and if the visitors are not exercised before the Lord, it will be easy to offend others. It may even cause problems. However, if it is conducted in a careful way, everything will be covered adequately. A WORD OF EXHORTATION The brothers have to bear responsibility for carrying out the above points. You have to consider much before the Lord and pray much before making any assignment. You have to be strict before the Lord. If you are strict, you will not be careless. You have to present all the things before the Lord one by one. If you want to work at all, you have to work properly, systematically, and in a dedicated way. Do not be loose. Do not think that any way is just as good as another as long as it is done by the spirit. This is wrong. In addition to exercising your spirit, you have to work according to the right principles. The most important principle in the work is not being slothful in zeal. Those who are slothful will not accomplish anything. I hope that none of you will be slothful. If God grants mercy and adds more people, you will feel that twenty-four hours are not enough to do your work. MEETINGS FOR BUSINESS AFFAIRS Every week you have to schedule a meeting for business affairs. This meeting is harder to conduct than a message meeting. Sometimes one does not know how he can release his burden through the fellowship. If the burden remains locked

up inside, it becomes a condemnation to the conscience. If there are too many affairs to take care of in such a meeting, the burden becomes correspondingly heavy. For this reason you have to come together to pray first. You have to open up your spirit to cast your care on God. Your spirit has to be unfettered. Then you must consider carefully and think through everything before God before discussing it. The meeting for business affairs should be separated from the meeting for Bible study. Do not mix the two things together. They must be separate. Do everything with a single heart. A man is limited in his mental capacity. Even the combined effort and energy of a few people are limited. This is the reason you must work with singleness of heart. You must study the Bible with singleness of heart, and you must fellowship about business affairs with singleness of heart. If you mix these two things together, you will accomplish nothing. THE MEETING FOR EVANGELISTS In addition to these meetings, there is sometimes the need to have a meeting for evangelists. Before and after every such gospel meeting, there is the need of thorough prayer, fellowship, and evaluation. If you do this, the church will become powerful in the gospel.

CHAPTER FIVE A PRIVATE TALK WITH BROTHER K. H. WEIGH Date:August 31, 1949 Place:Canton Weigh Kwang-hsi: Concerning Mrs. Yuan, I can say that she has never cooperated with us. I did not know her very well before and did not try to deal with the issue. She not only is uncooperative in her speaking, but she also has the problem of being doubled-tongued. I cannot trust her. In the past, she always stood with Mrs. Chow and Mrs. Lin to oppose me. ONE Watchman Nee: In the future, if anyone testifies of trouble from her, I will deal with her in a severe way. Based on Matthew 18, it is best to discuss this matter with two or three. If we have the testimony of more than two people, we can deal with her. TWO

Concerning the sisters' meeting: Presently it is not necessary for the sisters' meeting to be held on the ground of the church. The sister co-workers can conduct fellowship meetings under the auspices of their personal work. THREE Concerning Mrs. Nee [Editor's note: Watchman Nee's mother]: Her being accepted into the work in the Hong Kong and Canton regions is a mistake on the part of the co-workers. You have not stood firmly on your ground. We have fellowshipped about this matter before, and we have made a public announcement that co-workers who do not have a letter of recommendation should not be accepted into the work. You should not give her the ground to work just because she is my mother. We are here to follow the teaching of the Bible, not the leadership of man. Paul clearly charged the church in Corinth to cover the sisters' heads; the sisters should not teach. Here, however, there is a sister who has broken the principle. She is tolerated because she is the mother of So-andso. I am quite angry about this. FOUR Hong Kong should still be the center of the work for the entire south China region. In the future, when we find more potential for development in the work in Canton, we can move the center to Canton. FIVE Prayer is for dealing with our mistakes; it is not to change God's will or to force Him to do anything. God is our Father, and He is more than happy to give us good things (Matt. 7:11). However, He is also holy and righteous. He disciplines us according to His holiness and righteousness so that we can participate in the same (Heb. 12:7-10). When God does not answer our prayer, it is because He does not want to spoil us or because we are wrong in some areas and in need of confession and repentance. Sometimes God does not have to have a reason for not answering our prayers. He wants to show us that He is God and that His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. He sits on the throne, and He will grant mercy to whom He will grant mercy. This will lead to a knowledge and an adoration of His very person. Remember the Lord Jesus' word that we should not think that we can change God's mind by many words and much repetition. This is what the Gentiles do (Matt. 6:7). We need to examine ourselves before praying regarding God's will. SIX

The next generation in the church will be determined by the conduct of this generation. Everything hinges on us. Whether or not we can make the next generation like those in Acts 2 depends on how we of this generation conduct ourselves. The issue is whether or not we are willing to humble ourselves. The recovery can stop in us, or it can break forth from us. If God has a way through us, the next generation will produce better Christians. Therefore, our responsibility today is very great before the Lord. SEVEN Concerning the use of separate small cups for the Lord's table: First, it is hard to make a definite judgment on this matter. Second, this is a minor issue. Did the disciples pour wine into smaller cups, or did they all drink from the same cup on the night the Lord Jesus took the cup, blessed it, and gave it to the disciples? It is hard to say. Nothing in the divine record tells us about how the first church took the cup to remember the Lord. This is a very minor issue. This is the reason the Bible does not say anything about it. It does not want us to pay too much attention to this matter. Of course, we have to take care of others' consciences. We should not insist on one way. The Lord has not delivered us out of the world, but out of the evil one (John 17:15). In the same way, He has not delivered us out of bacteria, but out of sickness.

CHAPTER SIX FORSAKING EVERYTHING FOR THE GOSPEL'S SAKE Date:November 21, 1949 Place:Brother Cheng's house, Hong Kong FORSAKING EVERYTHING FOR THE GOSPEL'S SAKE The church accomplishes much more and produces more results during times of trial than during times of peace. The darker the environment, the brighter the church shines, and the more thriving it becomes. This is because the church receives from the very transcendent life of the resurrected Lord. The more this life is placed in a difficult and trying situation, the more resilient it becomes. The persecution of the church in Smyrna represents the persecution of the church under the Roman Empire. History tells us that the result of that persecution was a proliferation of Christians. God never contradicts His own will. Similarly, His life never contradicts its own law; it never yields to persecution. God has no intention to spare His church from persecution. He only has promised that the church

would be built on the rock—Jesus Christ, and that the gates of Hades would not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18). The gospel is powerful because the Lord Jesus has resurrected from the dead, bringing life and incorruption to light through the gospel (2 Tim. 1:10). As a consequence, the Lord challenges men to leave their possessions and relatives "for My sake and for the gospel's sake" (Mark 10:29). He did not say "for My sake" only, but "for My sake and for the gospel's sake." Without the Lord's life, the gospel is empty. The gospel is the proclamation of the victorious and resurrected life of the Lord Jesus. If a man believes in the gospel, that is, if he believes in the risen Christ, he has life in him. The Lord spoke this word after He met the rich young ruler who went away in sorrow (vv. 17-22). He thought that the Lord Jesus' demand was too high and that no man could fulfill it. This was not only the thought of the rich young ruler; it was also the thought of the disciples. They asked, "Then who can be saved?" The Lord answered, "With men it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God" (vv. 23-27). This passage clearly shows us that we cannot give ourselves to the gospel unless we give ourselves to the Lord. In order to be for the Lord and for His gospel, however, we have to forsake everything. This is impossible with men. After receiving the resurrection life of the Lord through faith, however, we can and will do it happily. The Lord Himself forsook everything. In the parable of the treasure and the pearl in Matthew 13, the Lord Jesus told the disciples that He was the One who sold everything to buy the treasure (the kingdom) and the pearl (the church) (vv. 4446). The apostle Paul also said that the Lord Jesus was rich but was made poor for our sake so that we could become rich through His poverty (2 Cor. 8:9). This is the Lord's life. This is the gospel which He has given us. Today, when we preach the gospel, we have to be like the Lord who forsook everything in order that others would share the blessing of the gospel. THE REASON THE GOSPEL HAS LOST ITS IMPACT Today the gospel has lost the impact it had at the beginning. This is because no one is forsaking everything. Many people say that their time, money, and all are for the Lord, but it is hard to find one or two in a hundred who really mean what they say. The rest only say this with their mouth. In reality, everything is still theirs. The gospel has lost its initial impact because of this. Being a Christian is a secondary profession to many people; their primary profession is not being a Christian. The order of things has been reversed. Paul clearly said, "For the love

of Christ constrains us because we have judged this, that One died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all that those who live may no longer live to themselves but to Him who died for them and has been raised" (2 Cor. 5:14-15). Christ died and resurrected for us so that we may no longer live to ourselves but to Him. But how many people are living to the Lord today? Many people are Christians in name, but they really live in the same way as the world. The world seeks fame, fortune, position, and education. These Christians seek the same. They glorify their pursuit by saying that they are pursuing these things for the Lord's sake. Actually, their Christian confession is a secondary profession. The gospel has lost its power because Christians today are short of a full consecration and do not practice their Christian confession as their primary profession. In the beginning of the church age, everyone was fully consecrated. They were in one accord, and the gospel was powerful. Although there were false consecrations like those of Ananias and Sapphira, the church was still victorious in God's eyes. There was falsehood, but there was also judgment. The Holy Spirit was still able to take control in the church life. This is the reason the gospel was able to spread and multiply. The disciples in the church in Jerusalem were dispersed through persecution (Acts 8:1), but thirty years later, when Paul went up to Jerusalem, thousands of new believers had been added (21:20). Since the Ming Dynasty, the Catholic Church has been working over three hundred years in China. Its number is about three million. Protestantism began in China with Robert Morrison, and it has been here for over a hundred years. Yet it has only four hundred eighty thousand believers. Compared with the beginning, the church today has failed miserably in the eyes of God. The basic reason the gospel has lost its impact is because men no longer forsake their all like the first believers. The church should have taken over the responsibility of the Jews. It should be the overcomers among God's people. The Jewish nation has been destroyed for 2,565 years, but the church has not overcome yet. This is because it has lost the early practice of total consecration. At the time of the Lord Jesus' ministry on earth, those who believed in Him were called disciples. They were not called doctors, merchants, laborers, or teachers. After the church came into being, there were only Christians in the church, not doctors, merchants, laborers, or teachers. Perhaps you will say that Luke was a doctor. Indeed he was, but he was a doctor on the side. When we read the Gospel of Luke and Acts, we have the impression that Luke was Paul's co-

worker. We do not have the impression that he was a doctor. Paul said that he was an ambassador for Christ (2 Cor. 5:20). Since he was an ambassador, he did not have a second occupation. Paul called Luke a doctor because Luke took care of him (Col. 4:14). This did not refer to his profession but to his work of caring for Paul. In reading Acts, we only find Luke as a co-worker of Paul; no attention is paid to the fact that he was a doctor. He did not have the air of a doctor with him. Similarly, in reading the New Testament, we do not have an impression that Paul was a tentmaker. He was an apostle appointed by God. He was a worker of God. Today many Christians have lost their flavor as disciples. Their mind is full of commercial thoughts. All the time they think about making more money. They make the money but lose both their testimony and the power of the gospel. If we want to be for the Lord's gospel, we have to cast aside our own occupation. This does not mean that we no longer have a job. Many people still need a job on the side, but these jobs must be compatible with our testimony. They must make us love the Lord's church more, and they must supply our needs and the needs of others. Nothing discredits God's glory more than depending on others' love more than depending on one's own faith in God. Paul made tents so that he could be an apostle more effectively and thus maintain his apostleship. One should take up a job not for the purpose of making money but for maintaining his Christian status. If a Christian takes a job purely for the sake of making money, God's house will become a market for oxen and sheep and doves. It will no longer be a house of prayer for the nations. We must beware of making too much money. The cork in a bottle must be unplugged before its precious content can be released. The more we hold on to material goods, the more the gospel will be bound. The more we love ourselves, the less His life will flow out. In order for the gospel to have the impact, we must remove the "cork."

OUR PRIMARY PROFESSION—BEING A CHRISTIAN A normal Christian should be one who is totally consecrated. Our Christian confession is our primary profession; this is not something that we do on the side. What does it mean to have our Christian confession as our primary profession? First, we have to be absolute for the Lord and His gospel. "Christians" in Greek is Christianos, which means those who attach themselves to Christ, who follow Christ wholeheartedly. I hope that all of us will be men who

give themselves wholeheartedly to the gospel. If we all have the same interest, every problem will be easily solved. In order to take the Christian confession as our primary profession, we need a practical consecration. Consecration cannot be words in our mouth only; we must take some practical steps. At Pentecost there was the fact of consecration without any preaching of a message on consecration. The apostles only preached Jesus Christ as Lord; they did not speak about consecration. Yet, as a result, the believers shared everything in common. They sold their lands and distributed to everyone according to his need because they had a pattern of the gospel to follow (Acts 2:44-45). The apostles were men who had given up everything. The ones they brought to the Lord also became men of consecration, even though they did not hear messages on consecration. We all aspire to have the power of the gospel like the apostles, but we neglect the fact that they were men who had forsaken all. There is also the need of one accord. If everyone is fully for the Lord and the gospel, can anything break the one accord? If two persons are not in one accord, they cannot walk together (Amos 3:3). However, it is not a simple thing to be in one accord. We know that the church in Philippi comforted and encouraged Paul because it strove together with one soul in the faith of the gospel (Phil. 1:27). Yet even among those believers, there were problems. Paul had to exhort two leading sisters to be of one mind (4:2). This shows that they were not in one accord very much. In the beginning of Acts we see a hundred and twenty people praying in one accord for ten days. We should not think that this was a simple thing. It was a very difficult task. This is the reason the Lord Jesus asked the Father before He departed from the world to make us one (John 17:21). The apostles also charged us to be diligent to keep the oneness (Eph. 4:3-6). The principle of the gospel is for five to chase a hundred and for a hundred to chase ten thousand (Lev. 26:8). The one accord will bring in the impact of the gospel. Actually, only those who are truly consecrated can be in one accord. Consecration is to pour out one's very heart. Where our treasure is, there our heart is as well (Matt. 6:21). If a man pours himself out, will he still insist on any opinion of his own? Those who are truly consecrated will be in one accord, and their gospel will spontaneously be powerful. Today there are two kinds of systems in the world. One is capitalism, and the other is communism. Capitalism protects private ownership; everyone can accumulate wealth for himself. Communism practices the sharing of all things in

common. No one has any private possessions, and everyone gives up everything for the good of the state. The communist way appears to be similar to the Christian way, but it does not have the life of God, and it is not easy to carry out this practice. D. M. Panton wrote about democracy and socialism in one of his expositional writings. In the image in Daniel, the ten toes are made of iron and clay. Panton interpreted the iron as referring to dictatorship which will "stiffen up" to become fascism. The clay refers to democracy which will degenerate into communism. Therefore, clay refers to the communist party today. Since the time of Martin Luther, the Brethren have been the champions of orthodox interpretations of the image in Daniel, telling us that iron refers to dictatorship while clay refers to democracy. Prior to the Brethren, interpretations on the iron and clay focused on the incompatibility of the mixture. Other teachers emphasized their interrelatedness. For example, G. H. Lang said that dictatorship brings in democracy, while democracy in turn creates dictatorship. The clay of democracy is too weak to meet the challenges of crises, and so power goes to the hand of a few or even one person. The result is a fascist dictatorship or communist autocracy. An example of the former is Napoleon during the French Revolution, and an example of the latter is the Soviet Union which evolved into communism from the instability of democracy. Mr. Panton is the first person to interpret clay to mean communism. Communism extols sharing all things in common. Karl Marx borrowed this concept from Acts. It would be a shame to Christians if one day the communists would turn around to teach Christians about sharing all things in common, selling everything and distributing to everyone according to his need. A proper Christian does not accumulate riches for himself; rather, he forsakes everything to take the Christian confession as his primary profession. In Acts, first we have the twelve apostles and then one hundred twenty people. Later three thousand and then five thousand people were saved. The ones who were saved followed the example of the twelve apostles. Spontaneously they forsook everything. When a new one is saved and comes to the church, he sees that everyone around him has forsaken everything to follow the Lord. If he does not follow, he will feel uneasy; he may even feel that he is a dropout. Therefore, in order for our next generation to forsake everything, we must take the lead to sell our all. Otherwise, our gospel will only be a pat on others' shoulders; it will amount to nothing but a few nice words.

THE PRINCIPLE OF OFFERING The Epistles show us that the principle of offering is, "He who gathered much had no excess, and he who gathered little had no lack" (2 Cor. 8:15). Of course, God allows some to have lack so that the ones who have excess can be tested in their heart to see if they love the Lord and the brothers more than mammon. God's test shows man what he is like. Such a test does not show God anything; otherwise, He would be lowered to the same level as man. God wants us, the person, not our things. Consecration is not mainly offering our possessions to God, but offering ourselves and our heart to God. This kind of consecration is acceptable and blessed by God. A foolish man thinks he earns all of his money by his own effort. Little does he realize that he will earn nothing but trouble unless he operates according to God's principle. As believers we should live on earth by looking to God for everything. Without God's mercy, we cannot pass our days. The apostle told us not to trust in the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who affords us all things richly for our enjoyment (1 Tim. 6:17). Riches are uncertain. Only God who sits on the throne is eternally secure. It is true that we have problems, but we have the Lord, and He can take care of all our needs. The Lord Jesus told us that since God can feed all the birds in the air, He can surely feed us. In His eyes we are more precious than the birds (Matt. 6:26). Except the Father wills it, a sparrow will not fall to the ground. We are more valuable than sparrows. Every hair of our head is numbered. God has marked each one by number. Not one will fall without His permission (10:29-31). We should do our best to offer up everything, and should not accumulate any excess. FORSAKING EVERYTHING TO USHER IN THE IMPACT OF THE GOSPEL In the Old Testament God told the Israelites, "Bring the whole tithe to the storehouse that there may be food in My house; and prove Me, if you will, by this, says Jehovah of hosts, whether I will open to you the windows of heaven and pour out blessing for you until there is no room for it" (Mal. 3:10). If we withhold what we should offer to God, God's church will be poor. If we hold fast to what we have, how can we expect God to answer our prayer? Today there are two million people in Hong Kong. If one tenth of the population were Christians, we would have two hundred thousand believers. The church cannot receive the blessing of the power of God's gospel because we have held back the tithe which we owe. Throughout history, every time the church experienced a revival, there were men

in the spirit of Pentecost who sold their all and forsook everything to follow the Lord. J. N. Darby, Miss Groves, John Wesley, Count Zinzendorf, and many others took this way. They chose the way of voluntary poverty and forsook everything to follow the Lord. The result was great revivals in the church. In Revelation 6 a white horse came forth when the Lord Jesus opened up the first of the seven seals. The one who sat on the horse had a bow in his hand (vv. 12). Verse 2 only speaks of a bow, but not an arrow. The arrow has been shot. This is the reason it says that he went forth conquering and to conquer. The white horse and its rider refer to the Lord's gospel. When the Lord ascended in victory, the arrow was shot. The result was much conquering and much more to conquer. Today we have the arrow in our hand. If we do not shoot it, the gospel will not continue in its victory. Among the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3, only one church received praise from God—the church in Philadelphia. Philadelphia is a recovery that comes after Sardis. In name Sardis is living, but in reality it is dead; it has no power at all. Philadelphia, however, has the power. Therefore, it is a recovery. Where does its power come from? Church history tells us that every time there is a revival, it is brought in through consecration. Every time the power goes away and the church becomes Sardis, it is because money has crept into the church. Before he died, John Wesley said, "I am concerned for the Methodists. They are honest and frugal. In the future they will become the richest people on earth." Today his word has become a reality. Methodists everywhere are the richest people. Yet their testimony is finished. This is true not only among the Methodists but also among the Moravians raised up at the time of Zinzendorf and the Brethren raised up at the time of J. N. Darby. A Christian must be fully rescued from money. He must fully consecrate himself before he will know the meaning of Philadelphia. He must also continue in his consecration if he wants to stay away from Sardis. Do we want to be Philadelphia completely? It is simple to be a man living in the world; he only has one god—mammon. However, it is very troublesome to be a Christian. It is possible for him to have two gods—mammon and God. If a man wants to be a real Christian, a real consecrated one, he must be delivered from mammon (Matt. 6:24). Brother Hwang said that it is easy to earn back the two mites that the widow dropped into the treasury, but I would say that at least that woman had the faith at the time to drop them. It was not easy for her to offer even that little. Unless

our faith in God is strong, we will not dare to drop our coins into the treasury; they will remain hot in our hands for a long time. In summary, God's requirement today is to forsake everything for the gospel. May we match God's present demand. May we not lower His demand, and may we give up everything for His sake and His gospel's sake.

MEETINGS, CONFERENCES, AND PRIVATE FELLOWSHIPS, FEBRUARY 2—MARCH 11, 1950 CHAPTER SEVEN A TALK WITH CO-WORKERS (1) Date:February 2, 1950 Place:Jordan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN REVIVAL AND HANDING ONESELF OVER When I came to Hong Kong this time, I felt unhappy about the lack of advancement in the church here. During the past decade war was raging everywhere, but Hong Kong has been affected by it very little. Yet today there are only one to two hundred saints in Hong Kong. The flame of war has not touched this place, but neither does it seem as if the flame of revival has either. I am a little disappointed about the progress of revival in Hong Kong. We have to be clear that in order for the church to have a revival, it has to follow God's ordained laws. There are laws behind everything in the universe. All creatures are after their kind (Gen. 1:24). Even sin and death has its law (Rom. 8:2). There are also laws governing revival. According to my observation, the problems lie solely with the co-workers. In order for the church to be revived, our co-workers must be first revived. They can then influence the leading brothers and eventually all the brothers and sisters. How can we be revived? The way is to hand ourselves over. The co-workers must first hand themselves over; they must take the lead to consecrate themselves. The degree of our consecration is based on the amount of light we have received. The amount of shining we receive determines the extent of consecration we render. In this aspect the elders should not fall behind the young ones; they should not be behind in consecration. Admittedly, the older brothers and sisters may not be able to match the young people in evangelism, zeal, or

energy, but they should not say that they cannot match the young people in consecration and love for the Lord. If they do, this is an admission that they have received less light and grace than the young people. LEADERSHIP In God's church there is the eldership. Among God's workers there is the leadership. Many people think that these positions are determined by age and gift, but they are not determined by age or gift. They are determined by a man's consecration before God. The amount of consecration we maintain before God determines the degree of the manifestation of our position before Him. This manifestation is our only qualification to take the lead among the churches or the workers. Those who are willing to pay the price to deal with themselves will find that others have less of a need to deal with them. If we have God's light, we can take the lead and others will follow us; they will not rebel. Even though everyone has handed himself over, everyone's spiritual condition is different. If we are willing to cut ourselves deeper, the life that flows out will be richer, and others will receive more supply from us. The extent to which we hand ourselves over will be the extent of the riches we receive from God. It will also be the extent to which we can render direction and help to others. J. N. Darby was an Anglican minister in 1825. By 1827 he gave up his clergy robe, and by 1831 he forsook all to follow the Lord. His obedience opened the floodgate to God's light. After him Kelly also forsook all to follow the Lord. When I was young, I received much help from Miss Groves who also forsook everything to follow the Lord. Today we should not broaden the narrow gate. We should not be like the Pharisees, who closed off the gate to the kingdom of the heavens, yet they would not go in themselves and would not allow others to go in either (Matt. 23:13).

ADVANCEMENT IN CONSECRATION Brother Chu Chen once occupied a certain position in a certain denomination. Later he received God's light and saw His way. He gave up his position and started a small coal shop. Although he worked hard, he was joyful because he obeyed. He became stronger in his consecration. His spiritual condition advanced, and he ascended to a higher plane. We may owe others in many things, and we may even owe others in spiritual things, such as our love one for another (Rom. 13:8). However, in consecration

we should owe nothing. In consecration we should only advance; we should not step back. Many times the elders are affected by their past experience when they deal with the matter of consecration. They carefully weigh everything. They are not like the young brothers and sisters who consecrate themselves with a burning zeal. It is true that the elders need to make some decisions and arrangements with regard to the saints' consecration, but if the elders only move according to experience and caution out of a fear of being too extreme in their consecration, they cannot serve as elders. We should not be afraid of being too extreme. How many extreme things have we done in the past? Why are we so afraid of being extreme when it comes to the matter of consecration alone? DEALING WITH SPIRITUAL FEELINGS All of us have to go through dealings in our feelings, but how should we deal with our feelings? If a man has not dealt with a matter thoroughly, he will not have proper feelings concerning that matter. For example, one man in the Anglican Church by the name of H. C. Moule was touched deeply with the matter of baptism. He picked up a proper feeling for the matter of baptism. Mrs. Jessie Penn-Lewis, however, who was very spiritual and who rendered many people, including myself, much spiritual help through her writings, was prevented by her Quaker background from having a right feeling concerning the matter of baptism. She has not passed through any dealing in this matter. Concerning our feeling for every spiritual thing, we have to inquire of the Lord, and we have to open ourselves to His dealing. In the matter of consecration, we have to ask the Lord, "Have I fully consecrated myself? Is there any area that I have not yet consecrated?" The same thing can be said about our obedience. We should ask the Lord, "Is there any area in which I am still disobedient to You?" If we do not have any preconceived idea about a matter, the Lord will give us the light and we will develop a proper feeling. Brother Yu left the matter of his son's salvation completely to the judgment of the church. Although he did his part in preaching to his son, he did not make any judgment on the matter. Some people think that since they have given physical birth to their son, they should be responsible for their second birth as well. They want to monopolize both births. But if they do this, they will damage their feelings before God. We should be tender in our feelings. We should always stand on the ground of a learner. If spiritual authority is not on our shoulder, we should be humble to learn all the more. Isaiah prophesied of our Lord's time on earth, saying that He had

the tongue of the instructed (50:4). How humble the Lord was! He did not stand on the ground of a teacher. He did not speak His own words but the Father's word (John 14:10, 24). We have to learn from the Lord's example. When we speak, we should say that we are not speaking from ourselves, but we are quoting Brother So-and-so. THE WORK SHOULD BE CONCENTRATED IN ONE PLACE Presently the work in south China and Southeast Asia should be concentrated in one place. Hong Kong should be the center. However, we must have a breakthrough in Hong Kong before we can move on to Manila or Singapore. I feel that it is too early for some co-workers to work in these two places. Doing so would reduce our strength. Once our strength is reduced, our work becomes burdensome. The principle of God's work is first the one accord and then the concentration of our efforts in one place. When we combine forces together, the result will be great. According to the principle of the Bible, five men can chase a hundred, while a hundred can chase ten thousand (Lev. 26:8). When the first church was raised up, all the apostles were together in Jerusalem. After the church in Jerusalem became strong, the believers moved out for the spreading of the gospel. MINISTRY When one delivers a message, he is speaking for God. It is important to have a strong spirit instead of good arguments. For this reason, our speaking should not pay too much attention to rational analysis. The basis of God's ministry of the word is His revelation in the spirit. A minister of the word has to stand on the right ground; he has to be in spirit before he can minister the word to others. When I was at Honor Oak, I fellowshipped with Mr. Austin-Sparks about the matter of the ministry of the word. We discussed the one unique ministry and the many ministries in the Epistles to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 3:8; 1 Cor. 12:5). I said that perhaps the two passages in the Bible that will be the last to be fulfilled are the building up of the church, the Body of Christ, in Ephesians 4 and the church becoming holy and without blemish in Ephesians 5. God's work today is to build up the Body. Hence, there is the need of the one unique ministry that builds up the Body of Christ. In this Body there are many ministries that are for the perfecting of the saints. These are the ministries that the members of the Body receive from the Head for ministering to all the members. We have to learn to take our stand and be restricted by the Body.

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