OUTLINE FOUR

PRACTICAL FELLOWSHIP CONCERNING
THE LORD'S TABLE MEETING

Scripture Reading: John 6:35, 57; Psa. 116:12-14; 1 John 1:7, 9; Rev. 1:10; Psa. 118:24; 84:1-2; 42:4; 100:4; 96:8; Heb. 13:15; Psa. 50:23; 116:17; Rev. 5:13; Psa. 8:2; Matt. 21:16; Luke 22:19a; Psa. 89:7; Heb. 12:28; Deut. 14:23

1. Our eating, drinking, and enjoying the Lord at His supper are our declaration and testimony.
   1. Our declaration is that we are joined to the Lord and mingled with Him, just as the bread becomes mingled with us after being received into our body.
   2. Our testimony is that we live by eating, drinking and enjoying the Lord, taking Him as our life every day.
   3. The significance of eating the bread and drinking the cup is actually the significance of the Christian life; the Christian life is a life of daily eating, drinking, and enjoying the Lord.
2. We need to prepare ourselves for the Lord's table meeting.
   1. We should maintain a holy diet by eating Jesus daily as the bread of life (John 6:35, 57) to be renewed day by day (morning by morning) by being nourished with the fresh supply of the resurrection life (2 Cor. 4:16)—pray-reading the Word and reading the ministry that opens up the Word.
   2. We should drink the cup of blessing, the cup of salvation, continually throughout the day (1 Cor. 10:16; Psa. 116:12-14, 17)—calling on the name of the Lord (conversing with the Lord, thanking the Lord, and praising the Lord).
   3. We should enjoy the continuous and constant cleansing of the Lord's blood throughout the day (1 John 1:7, 9)—confessing our sins.
   4. We should prepare our being for the Lord's table meeting on the Lord's day:
      1. By beginning the day in the evening before the Lord's day morning—Gen. 1:5b; cf. Lev. 23:32.
      2. By exercising ourselves to be in spirit on the Lord's day—Rev. 1:10; Acts 20:7; Psa. 118:24.
         1. When we are intending to go to the meeting, we must spend some time to pray for at least five to ten minutes.
         2. In our prayer, we should confess our sins to the Lord to enjoy the filling of the Holy Spirit.
         3. We must learn to abide in the fellowship with the Lord.
         4. The enemy tries to frustrate us either from coming to the meeting or from coming to the meeting in a prepared state.
         5. We should get ourselves prepared to speak in the meeting, to praise the Lord—1 Cor. 14:26.
      3. We should not "leave the meeting to fortune" but come prepared by and with the Lord to bear the meeting just as the priests bore the ark; the meeting is the ark, the testimony.
   5. We should come to the Lord's table meeting in a recovered way:
      1. With a love for the meetings—Psa. 84:1-2.
      2. In newness—Matt. 26:29.
      3. With a voice of joy and praise—Psa. 42:4.
      4. With thanksgiving and praise—Psa. 100:4.
      5. With some offerings—Psa. 96:8.
      6. Being punctual.
      7. Coming to the front to take care of the meeting as fighting soldiers to conquer the enemy and as prepared athletes to win the game.
      8. Standing against our natural disposition, leaving our self with all emotional feelings outside the door, and exercising our spirit to sense the Lord and to praise and thank the Lord.