Once someone asked me, “Brother Lee, Matthew 18 tells us that wherever two or three pray together in one accord, the Lord is there in their midst. Two or three of us have been praying together and meeting together here, but why is it that there is not much of the Lord’s presence among us? Why is it that we do not have much of the Lord’s blessing in our midst?” I then asked the brother, “Do you think you are truly in one accord?” When I asked this, the brother could not answer me. I think many of us know many stories like this. The saints may seem to be in one accord while they are praying, yet when they are practically serving together, it is altogether a different story; they are neither of one heart nor of one mind. For instance, when three people kneel down to pray together for the gospel, one of them prays, “O Lord! Save the sinners and manifest the power of the gospel”; then the other two both say amen. This is genuinely a situation of one accord. But when they get up from their knees to discuss how to preach the gospel, they cannot be one. The three of them have three opinions. One of them says, “Since the weather is so hot, I think it is better to preach the gospel at 6:30 a.m.” Another one says, “No, the most appropriate time is 7:30 p.m.” Then the third one says, “I think 4:30 p.m. is the best time.” As a result, the three of them come to a deadlock. The one who suggests 6:30 a.m. usually gets up very early in the morning. The one who suggests 7:30 p.m. always goes to bed very late at night and has difficulty getting up in the morning. And the one who suggests 4:30 p.m. does not have to work in the afternoon. Hence, the three seem to have the same heart, but they are not of the same mind. They cannot even agree on the time to preach the gospel. Sometimes brothers like this come and ask me, “Brother Lee, what do you think?” If I were asked this question about this situation I would say, “This is hard for me. I can have only one view; I cannot have three views. Thus, in my opinion, half past midnight is the most suitable time!” It seems that I am joking, but my intention would be to give them a feeling that neither their views nor my view matters. Whenever we come together, all our individual opinions must be laid aside. It does not matter what I think but what the Lord thinks. All our “I think’s” cannot build the church.

Brothers and sisters, where can we see the building today? Let me speak a few words in a direct and simple way. Please remember that God’s presence, God’s power, God’s blessing, God’s light, and God’s grace are given to those who have been built together. Wherever there is a church that has been built together, there will be God’s presence, God’s power, God’s light, God’s rich blessing, and God’s grace. And if there is no building, there will not be any of these blessings of God.

For instance, in a certain place you may see eight to ten brothers and sisters who have been raised up by the Lord. These ones just live before the Lord. They may not seem to know anything, but they are in one accord. Although they may not be able to present the truth well or preach the gospel clearly, they are all in one accord. Therefore, they have God’s blessing and are able to bring people to the Lord. When others come into their midst, they can sense the Lord’s presence. However, in another place there may be some who are eloquent in giving messages and competent in preaching the gospel, but there is not the real one accord among them, and they are not built together. Amazingly, places with this kind of situation usually have only a few people who have been newly saved and brought to the Lord. The preaching in such places may be very appealing, but very few come to listen to it, and even fewer receive it. When you go there, you do not have the sense that the Lord is there, and you cannot see the Lord’s presence. I think that all the brothers and sisters have had this kind of experience in the past. We must see that the Lord’s presence lies with our being built together.

I would like to repeat that when I went abroad this time and traveled through many places, I could not see many churches that had been built up. There were those who were saved, those who loved the Lord, and those who were zealous, but there were not those who had been built together. The thing that grieved me the most was that in those places what I mostly saw was disgruntlement, dissatisfaction, and disharmony. It was difficult to find any place with a condition of being built up.

At the same time, in various places I often met children of God who asked me, “Brother Lee, where should we go?” What they meant was, “Where should we go for meetings?” In nearly every place I was asked this question. It was difficult for me to give them an answer because I really could not see any place where there was the building. You look at one place, and there are opinions. You look at another place, and there is criticism. It is not easy to find a single place that is harmonious and built together. Therefore, it was hard for me to point out to them a place to which they should go, a place where there is God’s house. If you ask me where Christianity is, almost anywhere we go, I could point out to you where there is a place of worship in Christianity or a place where Christians meet. However, if you ask me, “Since we are God’s children, where is the place that is our home? Where can we go to find rest? Where is the presence of God? Where is the blessing of God?” I really cannot answer these questions. Why not? I cannot answer these questions because it is not easy to find a built up church.
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