The first crucial point of the major items of the Lord’s recovery is the participation in the processed Triune God. We need to participate in, to partake of, to enjoy, the very Triune God who has gone through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. These are the processes of the Triune God, and today we enjoy Him according to what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 13:14: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Not just the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, but the love, the grace, and the fellowship are with us. He is love, He became grace, and He is grace to us through the fellowship of the Spirit. These are His processes. Today we are enjoying, participating in, and partaking of such a Triune God.
The second crucial point of the major items of the Lord’s recovery is the rich enjoyment of the all-inclusive and all-extensive Christ.
Today Christians know the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, but very few know that the Spirit of God today is the consummated compound Spirit.
The overcomers are also here for the recovery of the absolute living by the eternal life. We Christians possess the human life and the divine life. The problem is the life by which we live. We should live by the divine life, but instead we live by our human life much of the time. When the sisters go shopping, is that by the divine life? Is the way that we comb our hair by the divine life? Do the elders practice their eldership by the human life or by God’s divine life? If the elders practiced their eldership even fifty percent by the divine life, this would be wonderful. I am always checking in my home, in dealing with my wife, in contacting my grandchildren, and in contacting the saints-is this by the divine life or just by my life?
We have to learn to do something higher than ethical conduct, such as not losing our temper by the exercise of our patience. Some old people have learned how to be patient. It is not so easy for them to lose their temper, but this is not by the divine life. Instead, we should exercise our spirit to restrain our temper by the divine life. We should live by the divine life. With the divine life, there is no loss of temper.
We may behave ourselves when we are in the meeting, but this may be merely according to our carefulness and not by the divine life. I say this because after the meeting many people become careless in the way that they talk and act. This is why we need the absolute living by the eternal life.
We are not here for our education or for doing a job to make a living. We are not even here for the building up of “our” church. We are here for the building up of the Body of Christ. Many of the elders are selfish for their own church, but they may not be burdened for the building up of the Body of Christ. If we are building up the church in Anaheim, it should be for the building up of the Body of Christ. The building up of the local churches should be for the building up of the Body of Christ.
The Bible, the New Testament, shows us clearly that every city should have only one church, just like a husband should have only one wife (Rev. 1:11; Acts 8:1; 13:1). But today look at the situation. In all the cities, there is a “church market.” In the recent turmoil, the divisive ones did not care for the seriousness of the division which they have made. There should be “one city, one church; one husband, one wife.” If we have more than one church in a city, we commit spiritual fornication.
The final crucial point of the major items of the Lord’s recovery is the keeping of the oneness of the Body of Christ. The dissenters in the recent turmoil have abandoned this truth. Even if their accusations were true, this could not be a standing for them to make division. This could not justify their divisive action. Regardless of the situation, a husband should not divorce his wife. Even separation is wrong. We must be diligent to keep the oneness of the Body of Christ.
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