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As a Nursing Mother
Cherishing Her Own Children

When you preach the gospel you beget as a father. After begetting, you immediately nourish as a nursing mother.

Leading Them:

To Know the Lord

First, lead the new ones to know the four aspects of the Lord: to know Him as God (Rom. 9:5), to know Him as Man (1 Tim. 2:5), to know Him as the Savior, as well as the Redeemer (Luke 2:11), and to know Him as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). After you have learned these four aspects you should not teach others in a legal way. Rather, talk to them spontaneously. Perhaps you can speak these points in four messages. In the first message help them to know that the Lord is God. Then help them to know that the Lord is Man, that He is the God-man. Following that, help them to know that this God-man is our Savior and our Redeemer. In the end, help them to see that this Lord has become the life-giving Spirit and is now living in us. If they want to know more, there are many books among us concerning all of these items. You can introduce all of these books and publications to them.

To Know the Lord’s Salvation

After they know the person of the Lord, you have to help them know the salvation of the Lord. The Lord has redeemed us with His precious blood and saved us by His life. The redemptive aspect of the Lord’s salvation has been accomplished. But He is still saving us daily in life. Redemption by the blood and deliverance in life added together equal the Lord’s salvation for us. The Lord’s salvation includes both the redemption by the blood and the daily deliverance in His life.

To Know That
They Have the Life of the Lord

After this you have to lead them to know that they themselves have the life of the Lord. Formerly they only had the human life. Now that they are saved they have the life of the Lord. Furthermore, their spirit has been regenerated by the Lord Spirit.

To Exercise Their Spirit
to Call On the Lord, to Pray,
and to Take In the Lord’s Riches

If you want to lead them to exercise their spirit, you must first exercise your own spirit. You must not only lead them to know that He is the Spirit and that they have a spirit, you must also demonstrate that you are a person that uses your spirit and speaks from your spirit. Then you should help them use their spirit, pray with their spirit, and call on the name of the Lord from their spirit to take in the Lord’s riches.

To Enjoy the Milk of the Lord’s Word in the Bible and to Grow in Life

You should also lead them to enjoy the milk of the Lord’s word by using some verses in the Bible. This kind of enjoyment will help them to grow in life.

To Consecrate Themselves
as Living Sacrifices to God

When they were saved you offered them up to God as sacrifices. However, at that time it was you who offered them. After you have nourished them and they have grown in life, you have to tell them that now they have to offer themselves to the Lord as living sacrifices. Romans 12 says, “I beg you therefore, brothers, through the compassions of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well-pleasing to God, which is your most reasonable service” (v. 1).

This Being the Pattern
Revealed in the New Testament

Acts 5:42 says that every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and bringing the good news of Jesus as the Christ.


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The New Testament Priests of the Gospel   pg 32