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In this chapter we will continue to fellowship about the practice of the home meetings and the teaching of Truth Lessons. As a result of the last few meetings, we have seen some results. The brothers are very faithful in putting into practice what they have heard. In their practice they have found some secrets and have made some improvements. I believe that we will make much advancement in the coming days.
I received a very encouraging report. After we divided the small groups into the home meetings, in three weeks our attendance increased by fifty percent, from three thousand to four thousand five hundred. Those attending the truth classes have increased by twenty percent to the current number of three thousand five hundred. This proves that the new way is the right way.
We need both the small group meetings and the home meetings. We should not stop the small group meetings because we now have the home meetings. We cannot have home meetings without having small group meetings, that is, meetings that combine two or three families together. On the one hand, we need to encourage the brothers and sisters to open up their homes for meetings. On the other hand, we need to encourage them to have spontaneous small group meetings in their neighborhood with a few other families. They do not need to meet every week; they can meet once every two weeks for fellowship, encouragement, nourishment, mutual help, and inciting. The home meetings and the small group meetings must go together, like the two feet of the human body. The foundation, however, rests mainly in the homes.
We look to the Lord to bring the church on in its practice. As soon as a person is saved, the first thing he should do is open up his home and have meetings in his home. On the one hand, we bring people to salvation through the home meetings. On the other hand, such saved ones, being saved in their homes, will spontaneously have a good impression of and a strong inclination for the home meetings. This is one advantage of saving people in the homes. It is different from the way that we brought people to salvation through the big meetings. Those who were saved in the big meetings did not have a good impression of or a strong inclination for the home meetings. As long as a person is open, even if he is not yet saved, we can bring a meeting to his home.
The result of bringing meetings to people’s homes is considerable. I have story after story to confirm this. Some dormant ones were revived through the saints bringing the meetings to their homes. Many relatives have refused the gospel for many years, but as soon as the meetings go to their homes, they believe, receive the Lord, and are baptized. This is a wonderful thing. It proves that the Lord’s leading and what we have seen are right. As soon as we contact someone, we should bring the meetings to his home. The minute he is saved, he should immediately open up his home. He can do this because he was brought to the Lord through the way of bringing a meeting to his home. In the Lord’s recovery this practice should be the fundamental factor in building up the church.
Mormonism is a great heresy in the United States. It tells people that the Lord Jesus was born of a marriage between Mary and Adam. This is a blasphemy. Although Mormonism accepts the Bible, it has its own Book of Mormon in addition to the Bible. Today in America, Mormonism enjoys a strong increase. Its influence worldwide is also quite phenomenal. Recently in Taiwan, I studied this matter. I was very surprised by the results of my investigation. The Mormon publications clearly state that its “church” is built up by the efforts of its members in opening up their homes. Its practice is the same as what the Lord has impressed us with and commissioned us to carry out. To be sure, we did not pick up anything from them, nor did they learn their practice from us. From the very beginning, they have been teaching their members to build up their homes. In 1973 alone, they increased by one million members. The Mormons now have a presence in Taiwan. Although they have not been in Taiwan for a long time, they are very aggressive. When some of our brothers and sisters visit the homes of new ones, they meet Mormons in the new ones’ homes. We need to pray. I feel that Satan is working here, because he knows that the Lord is carrying out the new way in Taiwan during these few years, and he is trying his best to frustrate the Lord’s move with his counterfeit move.
The Lord has shown us that every saint should meet in the homes. We are now practicing this. At this point in time, we need to pay attention to the use of the Lord’s word in a proper way in the home meetings to nourish and lead everyone. We should not ask the saints merely to open their homes, sing a few songs, pray and fellowship a little, have a snack, and then send everyone home. We should help them to realize that all the attendants should learn to teach one another in a mutual way.
In a home meeting, the son in the family can call a hymn, the daughter can lead the prayer, and the mother can begin the fellowship. Everyone can be the “head.” In the home meetings we should teach one another in a mutual way. First, we should teach the children, the family members. Next, they in turn should teach others. Of course, we must remember that we should not teach with our own teaching. Rather, we should teach with the Lord’s word. A person will receive help in the home meetings only through the Lord’s word. The Lord’s word is spirit and life. For this reason every time we have a home meeting, we should render the saints some words of the truth.
Such a practice involves an effort on the part of the co-workers and the elders. We must carefully select the proper material for the home meetings. We need to spend an adequate amount of time to pray thoroughly, to observe the condition of the brothers and sisters, and to understand the need of all the homes and the groups. We need to know their conditions, and then we should search out the suitable material from our publications. A mother, in preparing a meal for the family, should consider the condition of all the members of the family. Sometimes one member of the family is sick, and she needs to prepare special food for that one. Sometimes the season changes, and she needs to shop for the proper kind of food. All this takes research as well as common knowledge.
We cannot be nonchalant in the kind of material we use for the home meetings. It is not that as soon as we have a new book, we automatically pass it on to the homes and the groups for their study. This can be compared to a mother going to the market and buying a cartload of watermelons simply because the melons are fresh and inexpensive. If she does that, some who have ulcers will end up in a worse predicament. We may say, “This is too difficult. Who can do this?” Even if this is difficult, we still must do it. If the co-workers and the elders do not do it, it will be harder for the other brothers and sisters to do it. If we make the effort to learn, sooner or later we will pick up the way. The most important thing is to take this matter seriously. We must meet the need of men in a solid way.
Recently, when some co-workers came to the United States to attend the conferences and trainings, I rebuked them, saying, “Look! Everything in Taiwan has advanced. We are the only ones who have not advanced. We are still holding the same standard and doing the same thing as thirty years ago.” Now all the co-workers have improved, but we still have not reached the proper standard. We must raise the standard still higher. Although I am a little older than you are and have more experience in the work, I am still learning. I hope that we will all learn. While we work, we should learn at the same time.
Matthew 24:45 says that the faithful and prudent slave distributes food to God’s children at the proper time. The meaning of distributing food to God’s children at the proper time is profound. It does not mean merely to distribute food according to the seasons but to distribute different kinds of food according to the varying needs. This is something that requires time and research. Suppose we meet a new one, and without any regard for his condition we begin to share with him about the seventy weeks in Daniel. It is true that we are speaking God’s word, but that kind of “distributing of food” does not nourish him. Instead, it kills him. God’s word is life, but if we do not use it in a proper way, it becomes a killing factor to others. It can spoil a person’s appetite; the taste to come to the meeting will be spoiled because what he has heard has not benefited him.
I may have exaggerated a little, but I want us to see the absolute necessity of preparing the right kind of reading material for different meetings. This is in the principle of distributing food according to the proper time. The advancement of the various kinds of meetings hinges on this very matter. Whether or not a meeting brings profit to a person, attracts him, or stirs up the desire within him to join depends fully on this matter.
In 1937 Brother Nee had a co-workers’ meeting in Hankow to release the messages on The Normal Christian Church Life. I arrived early in Hankow. One day I went to an Episcopalian Church to study its service. I observed the prayers and the sermons. Everything was printed on a sheet of paper. When it was time to pray, the pastor simply turned to the page and read. When the time for the sermon came, he simply read from the pamphlet. That was truly a kind of public reading. It was definitely not in the way of following the Spirit. We cannot follow this way in teaching Truth Lessons. On the one hand, we are reading some messages in the meeting, but on the other hand, we do not read them in a formal way like the example of the pastor, assigning one portion for one week, certain material for certain occasions, and praying certain prayers on certain days. We prepare reading material for the meetings because we realize that in the various meetings we cannot expect everyone to be able to deliver a message. In the past the Lord has given us so many riches; our storehouse is full of all kinds of food. As long as we use it in a wise way, we will have more than we need to meet the needs of the saints.
All of us know that during the past years, it was no small achievement for us to have twenty-one meeting halls, each maintaining a message meeting week after week. Now there is no need for us to strain our mind to find the material for a message. We have food in store already. In applying it, however, we should be living and flexible. If we are living and flexible, our delivery will be full of the Spirit. For this reason we should select the material carefully. This is a matter of life and death. If the material is well selected, others will live. If it is selected poorly, others will die. We can send people home with their hands full or with their hands empty. It all depends on the material we pick. This is a very crucial matter.
I hope we will not listen to the outsiders who slander us. They say, “Brother Lee has changed. He does not want others to speak. He only wants people to read his books. In the past he urged people to read the Life-studies. Now he is going one step further; he is asking people to take his messages as reading material in the church meetings. He is doing this to shut everyone’s mouth. No one can speak anymore; everyone has to read his messages.” I have read some writings that accuse us of discouraging people from reading the Bible and of restricting people to Witness Lee’s publications. These are evil words; as Paul says, “We are slanderously charged and as some affirm that we say...” (Rom. 3:8).
One point needs special attention: In selecting the reading material, we should precede each portion with a few crucial verses. Every time we meet together, we should first have the attendants pray-read the verses. This will plant the Lord’s word into man’s heart. His word is living, operative, and full of power. We hope that those who come to the meeting will receive nourishment and truth and will testify that we are here for the spreading of the gospel and the presenting of the truth.
Do not underestimate the practice of pray-reading in the meetings. There are three to four meetings a week, and fifty-two weeks in a year. In time, the deposit will add up. As the saints pray-read the Lord’s words into them, these words become a deposit in them and serve as their timely supply. We need to pay much attention to this. Never neglect this practice by saying that there is not enough time for pray-reading. No matter how long the meeting is, there should always be three to five minutes for pray-reading a few verses. Even if there is not enough time, we should still take care of this, because this is an indispensable element of the meeting.
In reading the publications, do not be dull or monotonous. A few ways of reading should be avoided. First, we should not have everyone read together except when we come across the crucial sentences. If the whole congregation reads through half a message or an entire message together, that will kill the meeting. Next, we should not have one person read through an entire paragraph. According to my experience, observation, and personal investigation, the best way to read in the small group meetings and the home meetings is for each one to read one sentence. This kind of reading may be difficult at the beginning, but in time it will become easy. I hope all the halls, small groups, and home meetings will promote this kind of reading. I would like to see this practice developed until it becomes our “family tradition.”
The churches in the Lord’s recovery meet three to four times a week. In one year we meet more than two hundred times. For this reason it is crucial that we learn to read the messages in a proper way. This can be compared to a ball game; with practice and training, there will be the improvement in skill. If the playing is capricious and there is no restriction and limitation, one can play for years and still not know how to play the game. Today the co-workers, elders, and full-timers must pick up the responsibility. We must take the lead to do it and to learn how to do it. I am asking that we take the lead; I am not asking that we replace others. I am asking that we do it with others, not instead of others. While we are doing it, we should point out the secret, the key, so that everyone can learn something. The co-workers, elders, and full-timers cannot be silent in the meetings. We cannot close our eyes and simply meditate. The meetings are the times when we “play ball on the court.” We need to take the lead to play ball. If the brothers and sisters are playing very well, we can step back. But if they are not playing in the right way, we need to step forward and render the timely corrections. Do not barge in or take over. Rather, teach others until they can play. If we spend time and effort to do this, the church will be built up by our work.
In teaching, we should help the saints to focus on the main points. Take John 3:16 as an example. It says that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. We need to learn to bring out the word gave; that is a main point. Lead the saints to emphasize the word gave. Repeat that word. Learn to point out the main points. We do not need to spend much time to explain them. The saints will realize by our hints what the main points are. We must see that our exposition does not carry much weight. The most effective way is to bring out the Lord’s word and have everyone pray-read it, directing everyone to the main points. In this way we will provide everyone with the opportunity to function. No one will stand idle. In order to achieve this, we need to continually lead the brothers and sisters to practice this in the meetings. I believe that in fewer than six months the church in Taipei will produce a model for others to follow.
In the past I pointed out that in teaching Truth Lessons we should not expound but should only read. The brothers are all very faithful. They took my fellowship. However, there are different ways to read. If we appoint one person to read one paragraph and the next one to read another, we “hang ourselves by a noose” with such a reading. What I mean is that if that person happens to read well, everyone will enjoy his reading, but if that person is a poor reader, the whole meeting will be awkwardly held in suspense. If that person does not exercise his spirit in reading, he will even kill the entire meeting. In teaching Truth Lessons, we cannot ask one person to read an entire paragraph.
I agree that at some crucial juncture we should ask everyone to read together. But the teachers need to control the speed of the reading. We must also direct everyone to the main points. When we come to the main points, we should read with emphasis. While it is true that the teachers should not engage in long expositions, they ought to direct everyone to the main points. From my observation I have noticed that some teachers fail to direct people to the main points at the crucial junctures. Some are worse; they allow the readers to mumble inaudibly over these crucial points and do not do anything to correct them. The main points are thus completely skipped. Sometimes the main points are contained in only one sentence. The reader may read the entire paragraph but miss that one sentence. Some teachers allow such negligence to occur. This kind of teaching is very poor. It amounts to no teaching at all. If the teachers cannot direct others to the main points and if they allow them to be glossed over, why do we need these teachers at all? The job of the teachers is to direct everyone to the main points.
Take as an example Lesson 14 of Truth Lessons, Level One, Volume 2. Almost all the teachers have committed the same mistake. The main point in this lesson is that the prophecies and types reveal Christ. There are many prophets in the Old Testament, and whether they speak in types or in prophecies, their focus is Christ. In Luke 24:44 the Lord Jesus told the disciples, “All the things written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and Psalms concerning Me must be fulfilled.” In John 5:39 He said, “You search the Scriptures...and it is these that testify concerning Me.” This shows that the entire Old Testament is a testimony, typifying and prophesying Christ. Both the major prophets and the minor prophets have Christ as the focus and the highlight of their prophecies. Unfortunately, most of our teachers do not direct everyone to this point.
When we teach Truth Lessons, asking questions is an expounding, so we need to highlight the main points. When we ask questions, we should not ask about trivial matters. For example, we can ask, “Which prophet had the most detailed prophecies concerning Christ?” When people look at Lesson 14 of Truth Lessons, they will find that Micah’s prophecies concerning Christ occupy only a few lines. He prophesied concerning the birthplace of Christ, when He was to become a man in time, and the goings forth of His Godhead from eternity. But David’s prophecies concerning Christ occupy one and a half pages. He spoke about the Lord Jesus from eternity past, passing through His creation, incarnation, human living, death, resurrection, ascension, enthronement, coming back, and receiving the kingdom, all the way to eternity future — His years being without end. If we read the Bible carefully, we will find that even though the Gospels are rich in content, some matters related to Christ are not spoken of as clearly as in David’s prophecy. For example, the matter of Christ’s being a Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek is not mentioned in the four Gospels.
When we focus on the prophets, we should ask the saints, “How did this prophet prophesy concerning Christ?” The main point of this lesson is that in the Old Testament there is a group of prophets who prophesied concerning Christ. The Lord Jesus clearly said that both the Law of Moses and the Prophets testify concerning Him. This indicates that the prophets in the Old Testament are for testifying Christ. Hence, when we compiled Truth Lessons, we put a special emphasis on this point in presenting the prophets of the Old Testament.
Some saints are attracted by dates, and they pay much attention to memorizing them. This amounts to what Paul called “unending genealogies” (1 Tim. 1:4). All the Jews were trapped by this, and Paul said that we should not engage ourselves in this. Of course, history has its place, but history merely tells us that something has happened. There is no need to argue about the dates. From my research and study of the Bible, I have found out that there are at least four or five different schools of identifying dates in the Old Testament history. They all differ by a few years. It is not only impossible to accurately identify dates from a few thousand years ago; it is also sometimes difficult to ascertain dates from only a hundred years ago. The dates are not the main points. The main point is Christ.
I say all this to impress us that we are not here to teach history, geography, or language. We are here to minister Christ. We are here to point out the things concerning Christ in the Bible. For example, in talking about the eight great persons in the book of Genesis, we need to point out what we see in Adam, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. If we can point out the focus of God’s work in these eight persons, we will unveil the meaning of the entire book of Genesis. Throughout the ages many scholars have not seen this. They think that the Bible is a book of history, geography, or science; they have not pointed out the spiritual light hidden within these pages. This, however, is the main emphasis of Truth Lessons. We must spend time to enter into all these points.
At present, many places throughout the world are using Truth Lessons. In the United States, Europe, Australasia, and Africa, many places are welcoming this publication. They welcome it because it ministers Christ. It points out the things related to the Spirit and life. In teaching these lessons, we must minister Christ. We must point out the things related to the Spirit and life. Everything else is background material. The accessories that come with a diamond ring, such as the frame and the box, are important, but the focus is the diamond itself — its color, the number of carats it has, its shape, and its weight. In teaching Truth Lessons, we need to point out the focus and teach by bringing out the emphasis.
The key to the success of the new way is the spiritual material we use in the home meetings and the way we teach Truth Lessons. If we neglect these two points, we will not reap much result. The focus of Truth Lessons is Christ, the Spirit, and life. It is not history, geography, or linguistics. If we exercise these keys in a proper way, I believe we will reap a tenfold harvest. I hope that we will pray much for this.
