Living for the Vision (Fellowship at the Fall 2014 Commencement of the Middle-Aged Training)

Brother Nee said that the hardest thing to realize in the Bible is Ephesians 4:12: "For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ." So in the Lord's recovery there is only one thing — the building up of the Body of Christ. In last week's perfecting meeting, Brother Liu Sui gave an illustration of making steamed buns. He said, suppose you see someone who sells steamed buns; in the morning he adds water to the flour and kneads it, and you ask the master, "What are you doing?" The master says, "I'm making steamed buns." He is plainly kneading dough, yet he says he is making steamed buns, because he knows that his ultimate goal is to produce the steamed buns. Once the dough is kneaded, he makes the filling; you ask him what he is doing, and he still says, "I'm making steamed buns" — though he is actually making the filling. Then the filling is done and the dough has risen, and he begins to wrap them; he is still making steamed buns. Next he prepares the steamer and prepares the damp cloth; you ask him what he is doing, and he again says, "I'm making steamed buns." So this old fellow's vision is that he is making steamed buns. In the Lord's recovery, we need to see that God's dream is the building up of the Body of Christ; everything we do is for this one thing — the building up of the Body of Christ. I hope that all the brothers and sisters in the middle-aged training would have this kind of seeing.

Today in the Lord's recovery, the church has needs in five aspects. First, it needs to be made younger; second, it needs to be made truth-based; third, it needs to be made legal; fourth, it needs to be made urban; and last, it needs to be made networked. Now people from the countryside are all moving to the cities, producing the issue of urbanization. Taiwan originally had over two hundred churches spread out, but now, because of the merging of cities, New Taipei City, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung, together with Taipei City, have become the five municipalities; at the end of this year Taoyuan will also be established as the sixth municipality, and many towns and villages have disappeared. In the cities we still have to pay attention to the distribution of the saints, to the shepherding and care of the saints; we still need to increase districts, increase the meeting halls, so that the church can continue to multiply. We serve in the church in Taipei; just two days ago we increased to the fifty-second meeting hall. Thanks and praise to the Lord! Our goal by December is to increase eight more meeting halls. As everyone labors toward this direction, by the end of the year we will have sixty meeting halls, with the church in Taipei seen everywhere — truly more numerous than 7-Eleven. The Lord's recovery began in Fuzhou in 1922; by 2022 it will be one hundred years. So I encourage everyone to pray and press on for this. Eight more years and the Lord's recovery will be one hundred years old; the church in Taipei needs to have one hundred meeting halls. Hallelujah! One hundred meeting halls would mean twenty thousand people. If this testimony could be sounded out, it would truly cause God to gain glory. So we must give heed to the urbanization of the church.

Last is to be made networked. Now information is too fast and too developed, and we still have to rely on the Lord's mercy to enter in and to learn. We must get the basic networking skills into our hands; through using email you can keep in contact with many brothers and sisters. You can learn to use LINE, Skype, WeChat — there are many such things now, and though you may not understand them very well, you must be able to use the basic things. You will find that you have kept up with the times. So I suggest that in the middle-aged training, although it may not be possible ordinarily to schedule this kind of class, in the leisure-time supplementary training we should arrange to teach people how to use the internet, establishing Class A, Class B, and Class C according to their level, climbing up little by little, and the internet skills will be learned. If we can all keep up, it shows that we are constantly advancing. I hope that in the middle-aged training everyone would stir up and encourage one another; coming to the middle-aged training, everyone should become younger. Though outwardly we are gradually aging, inwardly we should be renewed day by day, making up through the corporate exercise for the shortages of our individual life. As everyone opens to and supports one another, this is our middle-aged training. Of course, we must also pay attention to keeping our body up to it; the body does not keep up by taking supplements, but by exercising. Thank the Lord. I encourage the brothers and sisters in the middle-aged training: in the spiritual aspect, to pursue; in the matter of living, to support one another; and in the aspect of health, to keep exercising every day. May the Lord bless everyone.

(Fellowship at the Fall 2014 Commencement of the Middle-Aged Training)