Although we have seen the light concerning how to preach the gospel in the most effective way, we still are not too clear regarding how to have the home meetings. For this one thing I reconsidered the entire New Testament chapter by chapter. The first mention of something related to the home meetings is in Matthew 18:20: “For where two or three are gathered together into My name, there I am in their midst.” Later we are told in Acts that the early believers met from house to house (2:46; 5:42). The phrase “from house to house” means “according to houses.” This means that every believer’s house had a meeting. The number of meetings equalled the number of the believers’ houses. The Epistles show us that the early churches often met in a certain saint’s home, such as the church in the house of Aquila and Priscilla (Rom. 16:5), the church in the house of Nymphas (Col. 4:15-16), and the church in the house of Philemon (Philem. 2).
Although we know these things concerning the home meetings, we still cannot find much in the New Testament regarding how to have the home meetings. After we learned the proper way of preaching the gospel according to God’s ordained way as revealed in the Bible, we began to ask how we should take care of the home meetings. At first, the trainees in Taipei used Truth Lessons for their home meetings. Later, we published Life Lessons specifically to take care of the home meetings with the newly baptized ones.
The New Testament does not say much about how to have the small group meetings. Matthew 18:20 refers to two or three being gathered together. This may be considered also as a small group. Acts 12 says that while Peter was imprisoned, the saints came together to pray in Mary’s home (v. 12). This may also be considered as a group meeting. In Hebrews 10:25 Paul says, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together...but exhorting one another.” This verse may indicate a group meeting. The above three verses, however, do not tell us what to do in a group meeting. This is all that the New Testament says concerning this matter.
First Corinthians 14 and Ephesians 4 tell us much more regarding how to have the church meetings. We are more clear concerning the care of the church meetings because we have 1 Corinthians 14—a whole chapter of forty verses instructing us how to meet as a church. Verse 23 refers to the whole church coming together in one place. First Corinthians 14 and Ephesians 4 are particular chapters in the New Testament regarding the building up of the Body of Christ. The more that I speak on these two chapters, the more the light comes. Ephesians 4 has to be connected to 1 Corinthians 14 because without the perfecting of the saints, there is no possibility of having the saints prophesy one by one in the meeting, that is, to have the meeting that is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 14:26. Brother Nee saw this matter over fifty years ago in 1937, but he told us he could not find a way to practice it. He emphasized it again in 1948, but within a short time the communists took over mainland China. Brother Nee was put into prison, I was sent out, and we were frustrated again from practicing the revelation that he had seen of 1 Corinthians 14:26.
After four years of study beginning in 1984 in Taipei, the Lord has given us a clear view of 1 Corinthians 14 and Ephesians 4. In June of 1988, these two chapters came to the surface. First Corinthians 14 is a chapter centered on prophesying. The writer encourages the receivers of his Epistle to pursue, to desire, to seek, to excel, and to learn to prophesy. Prophesying does not come in an easy way. A student cannot get a degree without proper and diligent study. We need to pursue, desire, seek, and learn so that we may excel in prophesying for the building up of the Body of Christ.
In October of 1988, I began to tell the saints in Taipei how to prophesy. I was like a coach teaching them the best way, the top way, the excelling way, to play ball. Within three weeks I saw the success in their church meetings. In the past many saints did not know what to do in the church meetings. The leading ones would charge them and urge them to speak, but they did not know how to speak or what to speak. I encouraged all the elders, the co-workers, and the full-timers to take the lead to practice to prophesy by composing a prophecy at the end of every week. They have taken the lead to practice this, and many of the saints have been brought into it.
Every morning during the week, we should enjoy the Lord in certain verses. We can take down some notes concerning what we enjoy of the Lord each morning. Then we will have notes from six mornings of enjoyment. On Saturday night we can look over our notes of what we have enjoyed during the week. From these notes we can have a topic to compose a short prophecy which is good for us to speak for three minutes. By practicing to speak what we have composed, we can determine whether it is too long or too short, whether we have to delete something or add something. Some in Taipei even pass on their composition of prophecy to someone who acts as a coach to give them more instructions to correct and adjust it. The saints are happy because now they know what to do and how to speak in the church meetings.
We have all the tools that we need to prophesy in the church meetings. We have the Recovery Version which is a properly translated New Testament with notes that open up the text and many helpful cross-references. We also have the Life-study Messages to help us. We are like carpenters who have the best tools to do the best carpentry to be “an unashamed workman, cutting straight the word of the truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). We also have a living spirit to pray and to exercise to get something from the Word. In this sense, it is easy to prophesy because we have the best tools and our spirit. Now we need to learn and practice.
If we take the way of composing something to prophesy, we will have something to present to the saints in the church meetings every Lord’s Day. We will not need to wonder or worry about what to say because we can speak what we have prepared. We will be like the Israelites in the ancient time who labored on their land and eventually reaped something to bring to the feasts appointed by the Lord. They were not allowed to appear before the Lord empty-handed (Deut. 16:16). They had something in their hand to offer to the Lord for His satisfaction. The reality of this is in 1 Corinthians 14:26 where Paul says, “Whenever you come together, each one has....” Today in Taipei this verse has been applied. Over five thousand saints come together every Lord’s Day morning in many district meetings of the church in the principle of 1 Corinthians 14:26—each one has something. They also take care of the sequence of their speaking. Someone who realizes he should not speak first will wait for the appropriate time to speak his prepared prophecy. When twenty persons prophesy in this way, it is like one person speaking a composed message. The contents are rich and arranged in a very good sequence.