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- The practice of the Lord's table meeting:
- We need to remember the Lord by praising and thanking Him, instead of by praying, asking the Lord to do things for us.
- The first thing in the meetings of the church is to praise, to offer up a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving1 Cor. 14:26a; Heb. 13:15; Psa. 50:23; 116:17.
- In the Lord's table meeting, we should not ask the Lord to do things for us, but we should bless the Lord with well-speaking concerning His person and workRev. 5:13; Psa. 48:1.
- The praise is the strength of the churchPsa. 8:2; Matt. 21:16; Acts 2:47a.
- We should carry out the Lord's table meeting in two sections.
- During the first section of the meeting, all our praises should be addressed to Christ.
- During the second section of the meeting, we should address our praises to God the Father.
- We should not offer worship to the Father while we are remembering the Lord; neither should we praise the Lord while worshipping the Father.
- It is best to leave one-third or two-fifths of the time for the worship of the Father.
- We must learn to follow the flow and atmosphere of the meeting, having a Body-consciousness.
- We all must hold such an attitude with such a spirit that we are not the center, the flow, the line, the goal, but the Lord, the Spirit is.
- We should begin the meeting in a general way with our praise and singing; we must learn to sense what the Lord's burden is for our praise.
- Our spiritual sense must be keen; we must know what the flow of the Spirit is.
- We should never behave in the meetings in an independent and individualistic way.
- Seek to be sensitive in your spirit and sense the flow of the meeting.
- Once a line or subject is begun in the meeting, simply follow and coordinate with others.
- Sometimes to sense the flow we need to be balanced; we should not care for our own subjective feeling so much as for the flow in the whole meeting.
- We must always practice the one accord by following others and by saying "amen" to one another's praises and thanksgivings.
- After we sense the flow, we must exercise our spirit to follow it and enter into it; the Lord's table meeting should be full of the Spirit through the exercise of our spirit.
- At the Lord's table meeting, we all should learn to play with the same "ball" (flow of the Spirit), not several balls at one time.
- Suppose that there is a break in the flowthe subject is suddenly changed by one who is not so well experienced in the spirit.
- 1) Then you must recover the flow; you must bring it back to its course.
- 2) When it has been brought back, everyone must realize that now we are back.
- 3) We should not go on without coming back; otherwise, we will lose the good continuation.
- 4) It is sometimes good and right for the flow to take a turn, but we need a proper progression; we cannot jump from one subject to another without knowing what our direction is.
- We must learn to know the hymns and to apply them at the appropriate time:
- To start a section of the meeting.
- To strengthen and enrich the started section.
- To prolong and uplift the same section.
- To follow the atmosphere of the meeting.
- Call the hymns loud enough for everyone to hear.
- We should not only sing the hymns but also speak the hymns for our praise to the Lord and for our worship to the FatherEph. 5:19; Col. 3:16.
- 1) To sing hymn after hymn in our Lord's table meeting is not good.
- 2) In one Lord's table meeting, it is possible to use just one hymn.
- 3) In order to do this, we need to speak the hymns.
- Whatever we do in the meeting should strengthen or uplift the subject, purpose, or flow of the meeting.
- We should exercise our spirit to keep the meeting in the highest peak for a long time.
- We should distribute the bread and the cup, not too early or too late, but at the time when the remembrance of the Lord reaches the high tide.
- It is better to distribute the bread and the cup with some thanks being given to the LordLuke 22:19a.
- When the bread and the cup are being distributed, someone can speak a living word concerning their significance.
- If someone speaks a living word concerning the significance of the bread and the cup at the Lord's table, this word will give life and incite others to love the Lord and the saints.
- Because many new ones who attend the Lord's table do not know the significance of the bread and the cup, they need such a living word concerning their significance.
- We need to have the Lord's table in a living way that is full of singing, full of praying, full of the Spirit, and full of the holy Word.
- In the Lord's table meeting, we need to give the Lord our reverence, respect, regard, honor, awe, that is, we need to fear the LordPsa. 89:7; 86:11; 130:4; 2:11; 2 Cor. 5:11a; Acts 9:31; Heb. 12:28.
- We have to learn to fear God by coming to the meetings regularly, by functioning, and by being on timeDeut. 14:23.
- The way that we sit in the meeting, the way that we conduct ourselves in the meeting, and the way that we take the bread and drink the cup display our reverence, awe, or fear of the Lord's presence.
- If we come together with divisions or in a profaning manner, we eat and drink unworthily, eating and drinking judgment to ourselves1 Cor. 11:27-29.
- The proper remembrance of the Lord depends upon our proper practice.
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