SPECIAL FELLOWSHIP CONCERNING THE WORLD SITUATION AND THE LORD'S MOVE
Message Five
Doing Everything according to the Leading, Working, and Speaking of the Spirit, Honoring the Lord as the Head of the Body for His Unique Move, and Being Balanced by the Body to Be Kept in Its Unique Oneness
Scripture Reading: Acts 1:14; 2:2-4a, 14; 4:8; 6:5, 10; 8:29-30, 39; 13:1-4a, 9; 15:28; 16:6-7, 9
I. Everything we do must be according to the leading, working, and speaking of the Spirit; the best thing done for God becomes a religion if it has nothing to do with the Spirit:
A. At the beginning of Acts, the one hundred twenty did not form anything, start anything, initiate anything, or intend to do anything; rather, they prayed again and again for ten days (1:14); their prayer was absolutely in the Spirit.
B. Then, to their surprise, the Spirit was poured out upon them, and they became a people wholly in the Spirit; from that time onward, whatever they did, whatever they said, and wherever they went were utterly matters in the Spirit:
1. On the day of Pentecost, when Peter stood up with the eleven and spoke, he did not speak without the Spirit; rather, Peter was filled with the Spirit—2:2-4a, 14.
2. When Peter spoke to the religious leaders in Acts 4, he was again filled with the Holy Spirit—v. 8.
3. Stephen also was a man filled with the Holy Spirit (6:5); no one was able to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke (v. 10); Stephen was a person living, speaking, and ministering in the Spirit.
4. Philip preached the gospel in the Spirit; he did not determine or make a decision to do this preaching; he was simply living and walking in the Spirit:
a. Thus, when the Spirit told him to join the Ethiopian in the chariot, Philip ran to him—8:29-30.
b. After Philip had preached the gospel to the eunuch and had baptized him, he did not intend to go away; the Spirit, however, "caught Philip away"—v. 39.
c. Where Philip, an evangelist, was to go did not depend on his decision; instead, it depended upon the leading of the Spirit; the Spirit led Philip to preach the gospel to the eunuch, and it was the Spirit who caught Philip away after he had preached to him.
II. We are not in a movement but in the living move of the Holy Spirit:
A. All of us, especially the young people, must be impressed that in the Spirit there is no such thing as a movement; the Spirit must take the lead, the Spirit must do the work, the Spirit must do the speaking, and the Spirit must even do our living:
1. We, the people in the church, must be those who are absolutely saturated with the Spirit and absolutely one with the Spirit; if so, whatever we say is the Spirit's speaking, whatever we do is the Spirit's doing, and whatever we work is the Spirit's working.
2. In the book of Acts we do not see any kind of movement; instead, we see the leading, working, and speaking of the Spirit.
3. Everything that took place in the book of Acts was according to the living Spirit; nothing took place according to man-made decisions.
B. In Acts 13 the prophets and teachers did not call a conference to discuss and decide matters; instead, as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them"—1-4a:
1. This was absolutely a move by the Spirit, in the Spirit, and with the Spirit through the coordination of the faithful and seeking members of the Body of Christ on the earth with the Head in the heavens.
2. Hence, this was not a religious movement with a human schedule; it was initiated by a group of members of the Body of Christ, who gave the Head of the Body an opportunity through their ministering and fasting, that He, as the Spirit, might set two of them apart to carry out His great commission to spread His kingdom for the establishing of His church in the Gentile world through the preaching of the gospel.
C. In the book of Acts there is nothing of a movement; there is just the living move of the living person of Jesus, and this living person is the Holy Spirit:
1. When Barnabas and Saul (Paul) were confronting a sorcerer, a false prophet, we are told that Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak to him—13:9-10.
2. Acts 13:2 mentions Barnabas before Saul; however, it was Paul who took the lead to speak; Barnabas and Paul did not hold a conference in which Barnabas said, "From now on you will be the speaker, and I will be the helper."
3. There was no human discussion or decision; rather, there was the move of the living person, the Holy Spirit; the one who was filled with the Spirit did the speaking—v. 9.
D. The only conference in the book of Acts took place in chapter 15; the apostles and elders came together to take care of a certain matter, and verse 28 says, "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us":
1. The conference had no chairman; the presiding One was the Spirit, who is the pneumatic Christ, the Head of the church (Col. 1:18) and the Lord of all (Acts 10:36).
2. Paul, Barnabas, and certain others went to Jerusalem, because Jerusalem was the source from which the heretical teaching concerning circumcision came (15:1-2, 5-6); according to God's New Testament economy, there is no headquarters for God's move on earth and no head church that controls other churches.
3. The headquarters of God's move in His New Testament economy is in the heavens (Rev. 4:2-3; 5:1; Dan. 4:26), and the One who rules over all the churches is Christ, the Head of the church (Col. 1:18; Rev. 2:1).
III. We must honor the Lord as the Head of the Body for His unique move:
A. We must learn from the book of Acts and from the experience of the apostles and elders in Acts 15 never to make decisions on our own; furthermore, we should not make suggestions to others or give instructions to them; none of us is qualified to do this.
B. We are not the Lord or the Master, and we are not the Lord of the harvest (Luke 10:2; John 4:35); only the Lord Jesus is the Lord of the harvest; He is the Master and the Head of the Body, and we must honor Him by not making decisions in ourselves.
C. Many times we have made decisions for others and have given instructions to them, but instead of doing this, we must pray, fast, and wait on the Lord.
D. We should say to Him, "Lord, You are my Master and the Head of the Body; I am neither qualified nor do I have the position and the authority to make decisions or give orders to others; Lord, I am waiting on You; I want to know Your will and Your heart; Lord, I want to know what You want me to do and what You want my fellow workers to do; Lord, I ask You what You want the churches to do."
E. We all must have this attitude; otherwise, we will insult the Lord, and eventually, He will give us up; the headship is assigned solely to Christ; only He has the headship, and only He is the unique Leader—Eph. 1:10, 22; Col. 2:10; 1 Cor. 11:3; Matt. 23:8-12.
F. Traditional Christianity has lost the Lord's presence because many of those in Christianity have made themselves the Lord of the harvest, the masters of the work; we must not repeat this tragedy—cf. 2 Cor. 2:12-17.
G. Although the Lord has burdened us to go out to preach the gospel of the kingdom to the whole inhabited earth (Matt. 24:14), we must not turn this into a movement:
1. Any decisions that we make by ourselves for others are an insult to the Spirit; if we have done this, we must repent and, if necessary, ask the others to forgive us because we gave them instructions about what they should do.
2. None of us should ever tell others where they should go; what an insult this is to the Lord!
3. If we were to do this, there would be no need for the others to pray; instead, they would simply act on our word; to do this is to usurp the position of the Lord and to make ourselves the Lord; this is the greatest insult to the Lord.
4. We need to help the others to contact the Lord; young brothers and sisters, you need to pray; a person can be moved to join a movement and not have any personal contact with the Lord.
5. We may be burdened and led of the Lord to work on the campuses, but the young people must bring this matter to the Lord, pray, and offer themselves to the Lord once again, saying, "Lord, I want to go on with You; Lord, where do You want me to go?"
6. Everyone must pray until he is clear about the Lord's leading; everyone must be brought into the presence of the Lord to contact Him.
7. The Lord may be moving to the campuses, and He may lead many to go, but perhaps in His sovereignty He will not allow you to go; this will be a proof that what is taking place among us is not a movement but absolutely a matter of the Lord's leading.
8. We all must go into the presence of the Lord and pray for some time; we are not in any kind of movement; everything must be brought into the presence of the Lord.
9. We all must learn this lesson that no one can go to the Lord for someone else; this is the clergy-laity hierarchy; even the newest one among us must still go to the Lord himself.
10. Eventually, we all should be able to say, "I am going to this place because I have inquired of the Lord, and He has led me to go there"; but we must never go somewhere because a certain brother has encouraged us to do so.
11. Never tell anyone where he should go; instead, we must have the assurance that the Lord is leading; otherwise, we will be in a movement, and there will be no spiritual value in what we do; whenever we act on the leading of the Lord, we never regret it.
12. God's New Testament economy is a matter of the Spirit:
a. Acts 16:6 says that Paul and those with him were "forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia"; when they were trying to go into Bithynia, "the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them" (v. 7).
b. Eventually, a vision appeared to Paul during the night, and a certain man, a Macedonian, was standing and entreating him, saying, "Come over into Macedonia and help us" (v. 9).
c. By this we see that the apostles walked and worked not according to their own decisions but only according to the Lord's leading; if we work according to our own decision, we exalt ourselves to be the Lord.
d. Everyone in the Lord's recovery must go directly to the Lord and pray; do not ask someone else what you must do; none of us is the Lord; only Jesus Christ is the Lord, and we all must inquire of Him: "Lord, where should I go?"
e. Do not say as a mere slogan, "I am following the flow"; the real flow is the Lord Himself; how wrong it is to stir up a movement—that is an insult to the Lord!
f. Concerning any move we make in the Lord's recovery, we must go directly to the Lord Himself and pray; we must have the assurance that the Lord is sending us; none of us should give instructions to others or make decisions for others.
g. Now is the time for us to have a genuine turn before the Lord; we must say, "Lord, we don't want to offend You or insult You; we want to honor You as our Head and as our Lord by waiting on You for Your leading."
h. This is the Lord's recovery, not a repetition of the pitiful history of Christianity; do not take orders from anyone, and do not give orders to anyone; go to the Lord and pray; this is the proper way.
IV. For the Lord's move we also need to be balanced by the Body:
A. Suppose the leading ones, after much prayer, are truly burdened about a certain matter; what they should do then is, through fellowship, pass on their burden to the saints and ask the saints to pray.
B. Eventually, the saints will receive a personal leading from the Lord, and they may move accordingly; in this way no one will be individualistic or rebellious.
C. The Spirit and the Body keep us in balance; we need to check whether or not the leading we have from the Lord corresponds to the feeling of the Body.
D. The leading ones may say, "Saints, we feel burdened of the Lord to share with you that some of you may need to move to a certain city; we ask you to please pray thoroughly about this matter."
E. Eventually, some may be burdened by the Lord and led by Him to go to a certain place, and others may be burdened to go to a different place.
F. Fellowship follows prayer; after we have had prayer and fellowship, then we will be clear regarding the Lord's leading.
G. If we do not pray and have fellowship with others, we insult the Lord and usurp His position; furthermore, if we move to a place without prayer and fellowship, we will be shaken when the tests, afflictions, and persecutions come.
H. If we pray and fellowship, we honor the Lord as the Head of the Body, and we will also have the assurance that it is the Lord who is leading us; then after we move to a certain place, we will have the assurance that the Lord sent us there, and we will never regret our move no matter what the outward situation may be—cf. Col. 2:19.
I. We will be so assured that our being there is the Lord's will and leading that we will be ready to die there; we will not only have the assurance but also be strengthened and endued with the Lord's authority.
V. In the churches and with the saints we must care for two elements—the Spirit and the Body—Eph. 4:4a:
A. We must ask, "Is this the Spirit?" and "Is this for the Body, or does this cause division?"
B. We must be certain that what we are doing is in the Spirit and that it takes care of the unique oneness of the Body of Christ.
C. To be in the Spirit and in the unique oneness of the Body is to be kept in the Lord's recovery.