Group meetings in which the saints “bubble” are the proper church meetings and the proper church life. A group meeting is a meeting full of mutuality. In such a meeting everyone speaks and everyone “bubbles.” Such meetings are full of activity. It is doubtful that the meetings of the thousands of new believers on the day of Pentecost kept a certain sequence, with a particular brother praying, another brother calling a hymn, and a designated brother reading the Scriptures. They simply “bubbled,” sang, and testified in their group meetings.
Many times if no one instructs the saints to begin to read the Bible, to pray, or to sing, no one will do it. We should not need to be instructed as to what to do in the meetings. We are living persons. We should come singing and praising. However, in many of today’s meetings, if no one says, “Let us read the Bible,” no one opens the Bible. That kind of meeting is still very much in the traditional way of religion. Many times our reading of the Bible in the meetings is done in a set way. It is of the flesh to do something with the purpose of being different from religion, but we do not need to be the same every time. If a certain verse is wonderful to us, we can read it in a living way. If in a long list of verses we find Hebrews 10:24-25, we can say, “Hallelujah for Hebrews 10:24-25!” and read it before we read the other verses. Then when we come to the phrase “inciting to love and good works,” we can say, “Oh, inciting! We need to incite one another!”
Our old way of meeting can be seen in the big meetings as well as in the group meetings. In a recent conference meeting there were seventeen hundred attendants, but the meeting still kept a fixed sequence. When the saints began coming together, no one declared the banners, read the Scripture references, or called a hymn. Sometimes most of the attendants in a meeting are quiet. This quietness is like the dumbness of idols (1 Cor. 12:2). Some may say that to shout “Hallelujah!” in the meetings is not the proper worship of God. However, God would rather that we be beside ourselves in the meetings than worship in a dead way.
The quiet way of meeting is the tradition of religion. Traditional Christianity has influenced us to meet in this way. Before we were saved, we already knew how to worship God in the traditional way. Even a Moslem knows how to meet in a “Christian” way. If a Moslem becomes a Christian, he will feel that he already knows the way he should worship as a Christian. However, the many new believers on the day of Pentecost had no idea how to meet. They knew how to meet in the Jewish way, but on that day they saw something that caused them to be beside themselves. They no longer cared for the Jewish things. Therefore, they met in their meetings in a “bubbling” way. Our meetings should be full of shouting, praising, singing, and speaking in a “bubbling” way. This is the way for Christians to meet. When we bring new believers to this kind of meeting, they will receive a proper impression of the way to meet, and they will never forget that impression.
Young children do not need to be introduced and formally organized in order to play together. If they are simply put together for a few minutes, they will mingle together and become a lively group. Living children play well together. Even if you charge them not to play too actively, they will still do it because they are so living. When we go to the group meetings, we also should be living. We should not go in oldness. If we are dead and stale, we lose our capacity to have a proper group meeting. We were regenerated years ago, but now we need to be transformed and renewed. We need to get out of the old habit, thought, concept, and logic. We need to get out of the old Christianity. The only way to do this is to pray. We should not pray superficially but from our spirit. When we pray, we should also make a thorough confession of all our failures, defects, shortcomings, wrongdoings, mistakes, and transgressions. We should confess our criticizing of others, our backbiting, gossiping, and vain, idle words. Our confessing should not be once for all. We need to confess every day, several times a day. In this way we will pray ourselves into our spirit. We will be happy, rejoicing, and joyful the whole day. We will be persons filled with the Spirit and possessed by the Spirit. We will become different persons. We should not speak negatively but always speak positively. We should no longer gossip, criticize, or speak idly. We should simply speak Christ, speak grace, speak mercy, speak God, and speak the holy Word. This will change the very essence of our being. We need such a change. I hope we would all live in this way.
Living in this way will cause us to be Christians who meet all the time. Even when we are not in a meeting, we will be joyful and rejoicing persons. Then when we come together with others, we will still be this way. We will be very willing to open ourselves and fellowship. We will be able to present to the saints what we have, what we are, and what we know. When we come together with others, we will take the lead to be such a person. Then the others, especially the new ones, will follow us.
We should come together with six to eight brothers or sisters to practice this kind of group meeting. If we are not able to have this kind of meeting with one another, then we will not be able to do it with the new ones. Instead of taking the lead to be living, we may take the lead to be dumb. After five minutes of dumbness we may say, “Let us open up to fellowship,” but no one would fellowship. This kind of meeting is dumb, calm, and cold. There is no warmth, no spirit, and no life. In such a meeting the Spirit is quenched. First Thessalonians 5:19 says, “Do not quench the Spirit.” We quench the Holy Spirit by quenching our human spirit. Sometimes when everyone is singing “Hallelujah!” in the meeting, we do not join in, or we sing in a cold way. This quenches our spirit. We need to join in and open up. Then our spirit will be stirred up. When our human spirit is stirred up, the Holy Spirit within us rises up, and we receive the benefit. We must learn not to quench our spirit.
Our spirit is our most tender part and our most excitable part. No other part of our being can be excited in a proper way as our spirit. Every spiritual person must be able to be beside himself in his spirit. If we are too composed, we cannot be spiritual. The Apostle Paul knew how to weep (Rom. 12:15; Phil. 3:18) and, at the proper time, how to be joyful (Phil. 4:4). A person who is too sober-minded never laughs and never weeps. It is difficult for the brothers to be spiritual, because they control themselves too much. The sisters, however, do not control themselves as much. In this sense it is easier for them to be spiritual. In the four Gospels women such as Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna (Luke 8:2-3) were all spiritual. Judas, on the other hand, had a very clear, sober mind, a mind that considered how much money he could gain by betraying the Lord. We must learn not to quench our spirit, and we must learn to release our spirit. We should all learn to be “females.” Then we will have the capacity to have proper group meetings.