The light which the Lord has shown us concerning the way revealed in the New Testament for believers to meet and serve can be divided into the following four major steps. First, you must personally go out to visit people, to preach the gospel to bring them to salvation, and to bring these sinners as offerings to God. Second, nourish and care for the new believers. This is not the exclusive job of the elders and co-workers. Rather, it is the duty of every saint. Third, teach and perfect. Not only should the gifted ones perfect. Even more, when you have been perfected by the gifted ones, you also should be a perfecter of others. Hence, you yourselves must go and perfect and teach others so that all the brothers and sisters will be able to do the same. Fourth, prophesy. Paul said that you can all prophesy one by one (1 Cor. 14:31). He also said, “If all prophesy” (1 Cor. 14:24). This shows that this matter is possible. Moreover, among the four steps, prophesying is the highest of all the functions.
Paul was a great apostle. He stayed in Ephesus for three years teaching from house to house, exhorting with tears night and day, and holding back nothing concerning the counsel of God (Acts 20:31, 27). Paul’s work included nourishing, care, teaching, and perfecting. This is what Paul was doing, and this is also what we should be doing. He is the pattern to us believers. Paul was not just there giving a few messages to supply some life. Colossians 1:28-29 says, “Whom we announce, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man full-grown in Christ; for which also I labor, struggling according to His operation which operates in me in power.” It is through this kind of laboring that every man can be presented full-grown in Christ.
After a person has received some care and perfecting, he will be able to prophesy in the district meetings. To prophesy is to speak for the Lord, to speak forth the Lord, and to speak the Lord into others so that they will be supplied. Your speaking must be filled with content. Also, your spirit must be strong. Only then will you be able to receive inspiration. In addition, you must be a person that has passed through dealings before the Lord and has a clear view. If you have all three things, you are qualified to prophesy. Not only do you have to learn, but you must also help others to see what is the proper prophesying that will build up the church.
The way of mutual teaching and mutual asking and answering in the small group meeting can also stir up the prophesying ability within you. The old way of Christianity has annulled the organic function of all the saints. But the new way of the Lord is a way of stirring up. In the past, we were influenced by tradition to think that every time we came to a meeting, we came to a worship service, where one man would be leading and teaching. Now our way is to have everyone speak. This will afford opportunity for everyone to be stirred up. After a period of time, it will become habitual for people to prophesy in the meetings. This is the way of the Bible. At present, every week, we take one chapter of Scripture. Every morning, we take a portion and pick out from the portion two verses for pray-reading. Then we write down the inspiration. By Saturday, we compile these inspirations into a composition for prophesying. This improves the content of prophesying. But we cannot be satisfied with this. We have to continue practicing until we can get rid of these helps. The elders and co-workers have to take the lead to exercise. Then they should bring the saints on and help them to develop the organic function within them.
According to the Bible, the Christian meeting where the Word is released is the meeting of 1 Corinthians 14 in which every member prophesies. However, there are times when after an hour of meeting, the content of the prophesying is still quite weak and lifeless. At this time, you must not let the meeting go by. You have to grasp the opportunity to speak a five-minute word that is filled with rich content based on the material used. You may also give a conclusion. In this way, every time the attendants come, they will not go home empty-handed. The meetings will then have the rich prophesying, and the prophets will be produced. In the end, prophesying will become a tradition among us. I hope that one day, everywhere in the churches of the Lord’s recovery, prophesying will fill the atmosphere. After a new one attends our meetings for a few months, he will realize that our prophesying is not a matter of testimonies on getting rich and getting healed, but a speaking for the Lord and a speaking forth of the Lord. As a step further, he will even be able to prophesy in the meetings also.
Brothers and sisters, the way is clearly set before us. First, there is the need for all the elders and co-workers to be diligent, to struggle and to strive, and to abound in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labor is not vain in the Lord. It will be remembered even in eternity. If we would labor on step by step, preaching the gospel, nourishing and caring for others, edifying and perfecting others, and stirring up others to prophesy, working effectively in all these four things, the reward will be everlasting. It is now up to us to labor. Paul exhorted the saints in Romans 12:11 to be “not slothful in zeal, burning in spirit, serving the Lord as a slave.”
Furthermore, the new way is definitely a workable way. If the churches in the Lord’s recovery would go on according to these four steps, that is, to live a life of preaching the gospel, nourishing, teaching, and prophesying, I firmly believe that in the end, the Lord will gain a full recovery. The truth is the truth. There is only one way which is organic. If you do not take this way to meet and to serve, there is no other way to take. Hence, everything is set here today. We should labor and have a realization within us that this way is of the Lord. He will surely gain a full recovery. May the Lord be merciful to us.