I think those of you who were with us in those years at Elden Hall will all agree with me that the recovery then was very pure. It had one direction, one tendency, one goal. I don’t mean that all who were meeting with us had seen the focus; but the focus was there. A good number of the saints saw, and some did not, but there was no mixture. This made the atmosphere convincing, even subduing. Any who came with another goal either dropped it or stopped coming. Not too many left, yet there were some who did, because they had their own goal. They would have liked to use our field to carry out their own work; when they realized there was no way, they left. Many who came, however, were subdued, convinced, and purified. Today the churches seem to have lost that convincing, subduing power, as far as the leadership is concerned.
In some places there is an effort being made to build up the numbers in attendance at the meetings. I would ask you to check whether your concern is for the meetings to be in the focus of the Lord’s economy or whether it is for an increase in the number attending. Even if you simply want to have a good meeting, this may cause you to miss the focus. The focus is to have the testimony of Jesus. “Lord, I don’t care merely for a good meeting. I don’t care merely for numbers. I don’t care merely for good attendance. Lord, I care for Your testimony.”
Brothers, if there has been an increase in attendance in your locality, that is really good. But I would check with you, what is the focus in your locality? What is the goal of your work? Is there a real lampstand, or just a Christian meeting?
As long as you have even a little desire to be a leader, that is a debit to God’s economy. Brothers, as long as you have such a debit factor, you don’t have the power to convince, subdue others. Elden was convincing because it was pure in God’s move. The convincing, subduing power came from a source that was pure and clean.
The Lord’s blessing is of different kinds. The rain, according to Matthew 5:45, is for everybody. The righteous do not get more and the unrighteous less. The Lord’s blessing today is everywhere. Many Christian groups have some blessing in a general way. But the special blessing is not general. These groups do not enjoy the Lord’s special blessing. I am afraid that in some of the churches in the recovery also this special blessing is lacking.
To take the leadership, to serve the Lord, you must have a pure heart and a pure motive. You must not try to build up a meeting just because it is in your hand. That is impure. To like being the leader is impure. To want to be the first leader is impure. Even to have a consideration that someone does not want you to be the leader is impure. As long as you have an impure heart, the blessing can only be general; it cannot be special. Apparently you all are pure. You love the Lord. You sacrifice your time, your family, your home, and many other things for the Lord’s recovery. Yet you are not absolutely pure for the focus of the Lord’s recovery.
Another sign of impurity is to play politics. Even if it is only a little, in quality it is the same; only the quantity is different. You may bring your experience in the world into the church, even into the leadership. If you do this, it is impure. It is to contaminate, to pollute, the Lord’s recovery.
I want to have talk after talk with you, not messages but talks, that you may all see what the Lord wants in His recovery. Preaching the gospel? There are lots of preachers. If you say, “Well, let’s do the same thing,” then there is no need for a testimony. Teaching the Bible? Coming together to have an assembly according to the Scripture—an ekklesia, the called-out ones meeting together? Is this all the Lord wants?
What I share with you here will be made available in printed form to the public. The video tapes will not last as long as what is printed. It will be sent to the whole earth, not just to Orange County. It is not for the present only; it will be available for the future.
It is good that the churches preach the gospel, that they use the Life-studies, that they are doing things according to the Scriptures. But, dear brothers, where is the focus? Do we practice the one spirit with the Lord? Do we have a vision, the prevailing, present vision, every hour controlling us, guarding us? If we do not, how can we expect the brothers and sisters in our locality to have such a vision?