In John 17:19-21 the Lord Jesus prayed, “And for their sake I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. And I do not ask concerning these only, but concerning those also who believe into Me through their word, that they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You have sent Me.” We are all members of the Body of Christ. As such, we must have the real oneness. We are really one. However, although today we are still in the recovery and in the oneness, we need to realize that the oneness among us is not a living oneness. Our oneness is not a working oneness. We all are one, but you are you and I am I. The oneness among us is a dormant oneness, a sleeping oneness. Our oneness should be very active. The genuine oneness will cause us to take action when we hear of a need among the saints in the Body. The real oneness is an active and acting oneness.
We are one, yet we may not know the eight members of our group so well. That is not the living oneness. In John 17 the Lord said that if we have this oneness, the people of the world will know that Christ is the One who was sent by the Father (vv. 21, 23). This indicates that when we go to visit people, they will realize that we are one among ourselves. They will realize that with us there is something heavenly, something divine, that the people of the world could never have. The worldly people cannot be one, yet we are one in a living way, so that our oneness is expressed and is realized by others. When they meet us, people can sense that we have the oneness.
In John 13:34-35 the Lord said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” If we love one another, we do not need to tell people that we are Christ’s disciples. The worldly people will realize this.
The first thing after the training concerning prayer is to train all the saints how to have fellowship. Fellowship is altogether based on oneness and mutual love. We are one, and we love one another. These are two strong signs.
The early followers of Christ, including Peter and John, followed the Lord Jesus full time. They were fishermen, but they left their nets, their boat, their job, and their father to follow the Lord Jesus (Matt. 4:18-22). To the outsiders they were idle, not doing anything but following this One. They did this for three and a half years. Eventually, they saw the crucifixion, the resurrection, and the ascension of the Lord, and that kept them more in oneness. Thus, the beginning of Acts says these dear ones were in one accord (1:14), not merely in oneness. Oneness is not as practical as one accord. They were in one accord with no different opinions, concepts, or insights. They were all one in one accord. They were one hundred twenty disciples, but they were just like one person, and they prayed in one accord. Here is the real prayer. Acts does not tell us what they prayed for or how they prayed, but after ten days of prayer, something happened—on the day of Pentecost Christ was poured out upon them as the all-inclusive Spirit (2:1-4), and the church was produced. This is what we need. We need to keep the oneness, we need to love one another, and we need to have the one accord.
A group may have only seven or eight members, but these seven or eight must have the one accord. By fellowshipping together in the group meetings, all the members will enter into one accord, and in this one accord they can pray. Then they will really become one. We need to pray in one accord, and one accord comes from oneness and mutual love. When we pray in one accord, we will not repeat the old, habitual prayers. We will be so much in the spirit that there will be no capacity for habitual prayers.
In the training concerning the vital groups, the first item is prayer, and the second is fellowship. We all need to realize that thus far there has been little real fellowship among us. What we have is just a kind of contact. Therefore, in every group meeting the first thing we should practice is to fellowship. In your initial practice of the fellowship you should get acquainted with one another in every detail of your status, your spiritual condition, and your present situation in the Lord. If possible, fellowship concerning everything. When we are fellowshipping in the groups, we need to follow the inner Spirit. Furthermore, our fellowship must be living, organic, and spontaneous. We should know one another very thoroughly, in an up-to-date way.
We might have met in the same locality with certain saints for years without knowing their name or the name of their spouse. This is not real fellowship. We are merely “skating on the ice.” We never got through the ice to the bottom of the water. This time in the group meetings the fellowship should be first ice-cutting and then ice-removing. Then all of us need to dive into the current to know one another thoroughly. This is the real fellowship. The real love is here. If we do not know one another, we cannot love one another. We cannot love anything that we do not know. But the more we know one another in the proper way, the more we will love one another.
I do expect the number in the groups to double in at most one year. When the number in a group is doubled, that group should divide into two groups. Thus, in the first stage of the group meetings, everything must be worked out as a model. Otherwise, if we all are cold, even if we are able to get someone saved, that one will be the same as we are. If eight cold ones gain another eight cold ones, the coldness will be increased. Therefore, we must cut the ice, remove the ice, and throw the ice away until we get into the water and swim there and get to the bottom in knowing one another. Then, when we gain the new ones, all the new ones will be the same as we are. Otherwise, the church will have no way. We need to know one another; then we can love one another.
The entire church life has been deadened because of our habitual practice. For a long time we have had very little change and very little growth. Our coming to the meetings has been habitual, merely the keeping of a schedule. Among us there is the desperate lack of the exercise of our spirit, the renewing of our mind, and the determination from our will. We all do things in a routine and habitual way. Because of this, we do not know how to fellowship.
The remedy for our condition is to remember that we are a trouble to the church. We all are a trouble. Our prayers may have troubled the saints for years. We should always remember that we are a trouble. Therefore, when we come to the meetings, we must come full of prayer. While we are driving on the way, we should pray, “Lord, save me from my habit. Lord, tonight I am going to the fellowship meeting; tell me what I should fellowship with my brothers.” The Lord is living. He will not say any word to you to tell you what to do, but He will inspire you. When you get into the meeting, He may lead you to say, “Praise the Lord. I am so happy today, brothers.” This is a good beginning to the fellowship. One of the brothers near you may ask, “Brother, may I know what you are happy about today?” You may reply, “I am just happy about the Lord. Today the Lord corrected me. I can tell you only this much. At another time I will tell you more. How about you? Are you happy with the Lord?” This is the way to have a living fellowship.
We have the living Lord, we have the all-inclusive, life-giving, indwelling Spirit, and we have a regenerated spirit. We need to do our best to use all these. We should not come to the meeting in a habitual way. When we enter into the meeting place, we should do it purposefully. As you are ascending the stairway you may say, “Lord, how good it is to ascend with You.” Whether others hear or not does not matter. We need to get out of our habit. This depends on how much we realize concerning ourselves. We need to pray to Him and allow Him to lead us and guide us in every way.
The training concerning the vital groups will have many points. From the matter of fellowship we will go on to the gospel visitation for gospel preaching. This will require much training. In order to preach the gospel, you must know the proper verses concerning God. However, if you visit a person who appears to be very knowledgeable concerning God and very talkative about God, you should not talk with him concerning God. His being talkative about God may indicate that he is a very sinful person. A sinful, wrongdoing person who is somewhat religious is the kind of person who likes to talk about God. If you talk with such a person concerning God, you will fall into a snare. Instead, you should talk to him about the conscience.
We all need to learn by being trained. If we are going to visit people, we must know what kind of people there are in this world and what to speak to each of the different kinds of people. If we would learn all this, surely our visitation will be very effective.
Those in the groups need a time with their group to practice what they have heard: the prayer, the real revival from within, and the fellowship. This will affect their attending of the meetings. May the Lord have mercy on us that we could have a real revival in Him and through His Spirit.