This message is a part of the 1978 Labor Day Weekend Conference held in Seattle, WA.

2 Corinthians 2:17, 2 Corinthians 3:5, 2 Corinthians 3:12, 2 Corinthians 4:2–4  

Differences between a Ministry and a Work

We still need to spend more time on this matter of “ministry and the work.” I also hope we can cover a little bit more about the idea of “family tradition.” I know some of you are kind of frustrated and you are not clear about how serious of a matter this is, or of its true meaning. Even I have to confess to you that I don’t really know what it means either — I can only speak from my own experience. What we covered this morning was mostly related to the concepts, but I do believe that after this meeting you will have a clearer understanding about the differences between a ministry and a work.

Ministry

The Source of Ministry

What is a ministry? A ministry is an operation with a dispensing, or it is the fruit of the dispensation of the triune God. The work is simply a career — a spiritual attainment in the recovery. Then the work is limited, yet the ministry is unlimited. I’ll go in a very simple way. What is the source of the ministry? The source of the ministry would be in 1 Corinthians 12:4–6. You know what I’m talking about, right? And the source of the work would be just talent. Anyone who has a talent, who is able to form anything, can also form a church as long as he’s born again. That means a good church; he could form a nonsensical church by not being born again. But anyone who has talent no doubt is able to do a work.

The Goal of Ministry

Then the goal; what is the goal of ministry? The goal of ministry must be for God’s purpose, which is the testimony (it is the same thing), and which is the churches. The three things are one thing: God’s purpose, the testimony of Jesus, and the churches. In the Bible, the three items are literally the same thing. Then what is the goal of the work? It’s simply — gain. Gain what? Nobody knows. It may be to gain the membership, gain the increase, gain a reputation, gain appreciation, gain the amen-ing in the meetings. Even if you try to give a good prayer or a good testimony with the desire that you will get a big “Amen,” that is in the category of work. Why? Because the goal is not right. The goal is not for God’s purpose, it’s not for the testimony, it’s not for the church or the churches. It is for a gain. Even when you meet some brothers and you try to impress others, be watchful. That impressing of others falls right into the category of work.

You young people, when you see somebody, you always like to impress people, to prove that you’ve been saved longer, the elders love you, and Bill Freeman always mentions your name, and Joe always thinks you’re Brother Lee the second or something. You know you always like to impress people to show that you are somebody. This is a gain. Of course, the low-class gain would be the financial gain. Someone may preach the gospel purely because they realize there’s no better job than this, working two hours a week and having six days to play golf. Therefore they take this profession. That is the lowest gain. But whether there’s a high gain or a low gain, gain has nothing to do with the Lord. As long as you are motivated to “gain,” then you are in the work.

The Ways of Ministry (2 Cor. 2:17)

Then the ways. What are the ways of the functioning of the ministry, and what are the ways of the work? For this, we’ll come again to chapter 2, verse 17. First, Paul says, what is my way? He says, “for we are not as many, which are hawking, or making a trade of the Word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ” (2 Cor. 2:17). So you see, anyone who is in the ministry at least possesses three virtues in this verse. 

Of Sincerity

Firstly, it is of sincerity. What does sincerity mean? Sincerity means, I never want to lose my standard. You always say such and such a person is so sincere. A sincere person always keeps their standard. Just think about all the sincere people surrounding you. Every sincere person has a standard, and every sincere person is holding onto the standard they have. So “in sincerity” means keeping a high standard. I just say a word to you brothers. Don’t ever do anything to lower down our standard. That means there’s no sincerity.

Of God

Secondly, speaking as of God. If he has a ministry, when he functions, his functioning and the desire of God are one. You know, brothers, all those who really have a ministry are bold. Believe me, everyone who is so sure before the Lord that they do have a ministry, this kind of person is bold because they realize that whatever they speak is of God. And whenever you have the real assurance that what you’re sharing is of God, then naturally you are bold.

Why are you not so bold? Why are you timid? Why will you not dare tell people that you are in the church, that you have the highest life? Why will you not dare tell your friends that you have the most exciting, most upgraded church life? But on the contrary, you go to make cheesecakes. You go to provide candy bars, even beers, chess games, basketball games—all these show you just don’t know where God is. If you do know where God is, you’ll never do these things. I know I’m too much these two days. But anyway, while I’m here, please allow me to bother you like this. You have to realize the reason why you dare not tell people the gospel in such a frank and bold way is because you’re not sure about your God. Anyone that is so sure about his God, I tell you, he’s first sincere; he always keeps his standard; he never allows it to come down. 

Secondly, he would always speak with a real boldness. Brother Lee visited one place and there was a very interesting story. He walked into the room, and all the top leading ones were with him and ushered him in the elder zone. So it is very nice. They met him, picked him up from the airport, and ushered him into a certain church’s outer room. Then they sat down and began to relax and fellowship. A brother had a question. “Brother Lee, I heard that you brothers in the United States or something are doing this and this.” I don’t know what his question was, but right after the question was finished, Brother Lee said, “Brother, are you checking with me or did you ask me here to minister? If you are checking with me, I have no burden.” He walked out. Then all the brothers said, “Brother Lee, oh no, please, we don’t mean that, we don’t mean that.” Since then, everybody’s afraid. 

I tell you, there’s sincerity. There’s a boldness as of God. I’m afraid you’re too smart in your serving. You use too many of your ways. You don’t have the assurance that “what I speak is of God.” Therefore you’re forced to put many ways into your preaching. You dilute your preaching with cheesecake, you dilute your preaching with basketball games, you dilute your preaching with chess, and you dilute your preaching with candy bars, beers, and even movies and TV. I tell you, you don’t have the boldness, and you don’t have the assurance that “my preaching is of God.” 

You see, brothers, from the beginning, you have to say, “Lord, I want to be under your lordship. By your lordship, make me a ministry.” When I do have a ministry, I do want to speak as of God. 

In the Sight of God

And thirdly, just in this verse, you see another thing. In the sight of God, speak we in Christ. So what? It is in the sight of God. It’s not a small thing for anyone who ministers properly to always have the realization that he is in the sight of God. I will give you an illustration. Suppose this is God. If I realize God is here all the time, do you think I dare to be sloppy? You see? Because God doesn’t go away. Wherever I go, he follows me. If I try to hide, he’s still there. I tell you, brother, surely my ministry is fervent. 

When God is not here, I play around, I joke, I begin to uplift myself, I begin to be somebody. But once God says, “I’m here,” I say, “Oh Lord Jesus!” Immediately, I’m different. You know, brothers, the reason why you have cheesecakes and candy bars is because you don’t realize God is with you. When you are drinking beers, for sure God is out of sight. When you are in the sight of God, I can assure you, you have to carry the ministry and you dare not to go into a work. You see, these are the very simple things in one verse. Isn’t that clear? 

First, what is a ministry? A ministry must be in sincerity. The standard is very high. Secondly, the ministry is as of God. Whatever I say is what God says. Thirdly, the ministry, the people who’re carrying the ministry always have the realization that “God is with me. God is standing right here in my presence.” 

The Measurement of Ministry (2 Cor. 3:5, 10:12)

Then we come to another verse. We come to chapter 3, verse 5. He says, “not that we are competent of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our competency is of God” (2 Cor. 3:5). So the fourth point is “no measuring of self.” He doesn’t think about himself. He says, let me tell you, we have nothing to think of ourselves. What is the weakness of a person? People like to measure themselves. Let me give you another verse; that is chapter 10, verse 12. You see those who are in the work. He said, “for we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves.” Now you see the difference? He says, “I commend myself to others’ conscience in sincerity.” Here he says, “don’t you know somebody that just likes to commend themselves?” “Don’t you know, brother, I’m the coordinator of Washington University?” That is commending ourselves. It’s easy for us to let people know that we have done something. 

Then he said, “but they measure themselves by themselves.” You are always prevailing if you measure yourself by yourself. Is that clear? You’re always prevailing because you’re always going according to your standard. Your standard of “praise the Lord” is actually like a chicken but you think, it’s not bad; see, I’ve got “praise the Lord.” Why? Because you’re measuring of the “praise the Lord” is according to yourself. 

Who are the workers? The workers are the ones who always measure themselves according to themselves. I tell you, brother, the young people, or young workers, they always like to measure themselves according to themselves. Do you believe me? I was caught by the Lord when I was eighteen, nineteen, so I know how young people feel. Young people always like to measure himself by himself, to think he is somebody, that he is wonderful. More than that, they compare  themselves among themselves. Whenever three young people come together, they will always fight to see who is the Judas. They always fight to see who is more cunning, who can do a better job, who gave a good testimony, who can pray better, and who can go and get somebody saved. Even if three or four come together, I tell you, this just proves we are a bunch of workers. The workers like to compare ourselves among ourselves. Have you ever compared yourself with somebody else? If you do see the ministry, there’s no comparison. Brother, you try to compare me with anybody, it doesn’t fit. If you try to compare me with Joel, you have to say Joel’s just not Titus and Titus is just not Joel. That’s all. There’s no way to compare me with Joel or Dexter or Ross, and who is better or who is worse. You have no way because we’re different. But young people like to compare.

What is a sign of the work? The work is comparing themselves among themselves. What is a sign of the ministry? A ministry is no measuring of self. That means, I don’t even care how I am. I don’t care. I only care how I live before the Lord. If I goofed the last minute, I will turn now. If I failed this morning, I will exercise this very moment. If I was a defeated Christian then, now I want to be overcoming and victorious. I don’t care about all the things I did—I have no way to turn, I’m weak, I’m strong, I’m victorious, I’m defeated, I’m prevailing, I’m not prevailing, I’m smart, I’m naughty, I’m a good brother or a bad brother. I have no way to think about these things because I’m busy enough to exercise my spirit. 

Who are the ministries? The ministries always pay no attention to self. Young people like mirrors. So they always look at the mirror. Oh, the forehead is so wide; that shows a lot of brain. And the nose is quite straight; that shows he’s handsome. The mouth is not so thick; that means I’m able to speak. The beard is very good; that shows that I’m attractive. Young people just like to do these kinds of things. You say that the eyes are spiritual; that shows discernment. The nose is quite good; that shows you smell good. The mouth can say something for the Lord. I tell you, you are always measuring and measuring and measuring and measuring and measuring. Do you agree with me? You know, brothers, you all have to learn one thing: Learn to goof in the meeting but forget about it. Learn to be bold. Learn to stand up and pray. Learn to stand up and exercise your spirit and afterwards just forget whether you did good or bad. 

I was in one meeting I’ll never forget. It’s been at least four years now but I still can’t forget it. I think in maybe another ten years, I’ll still remember it. Maybe I’ll never forget it. It was a peculiar meeting. I walked into the Lord’s table meeting about four years ago and the Lord’s table meeting was quite good. All of a sudden, a dear young sister called a song. She called such a peculiar song called, “No, no, no we’re never go back again.” Right after she called the song, there’s a “what?”, but right when we sang that song, the whole meeting came up. It became heavenly and prevailing. Everybody was praising a lot, shouting crazily. I tell you, that was really enjoyable, and everybody realized that the young sister did a good job. Right after the meeting, the young sister came up to me, saying, “I don’t know why I called that song, I just called that song.” I said, “okay, praise the Lord.” The second day, she came up to me and said, “Titus, I just don’t know why I called that song but I just called that song.” I dared not to say, “would you please shut up?” Then she said, “Titus, could you give the tape to me?” I said, “yeah, I’ll give the tape to you.” So I told the service officer, “would you please give a tape to her?” We’ve got a lot of potatoes, right? They listened to me, so the potatoes made a tape and then, not long after, she left. Before she left, we had some fellowship together and she told me again, “Titus, that night the meeting was so good, and I just don’t know why I called that song.” 

I tell you, you all laugh at her, but you and I and she are all on the same boat. We just couldn’t bear any success. If we had one good prayer with a lot of amens, we go back and fast. Not fast to pray, but we can’t eat because we’re too excited. Then we made a bad prayer. We prayed and nobody said amen and we literally killed a meeting. So we also go back and fast. It’s not fasting to pray but we just feel too bad that we can’t eat either. 

The young people all get stomach problems, ulcers, because they’re too moody. Their mood is decided by how they function in the meetings. If they do it well, then they feel so good. The next meeting comes, they do it bad, then they feel so bad. Then they have to wait for three or four days until another meeting comes. Then they do well again and feel so good. You know, the Lord is very humorous. Every time you do good, he said, the next time I’ll make you do very bad. And every time you do bad, the next time I’ll make you do very good. Is that your experience? But you don’t learn. 

The problem is, the Lord is so humorous just to remind you, I don’t care about your function. I don’t care about good or bad. In the heavens, there’s no record for all the amens or no amens, am I right? But the Lord keeps on teaching us, and we just always measure ourselves with ourselves. I did good, I didn’t do good; then we compare ourselves among others; I did better than him, he did better than me. Today his prayers are better than mine and today I called a song which was more right than his. And today, that sister prayed the wrong topic when we were singing about blood and she prayed about the Christ. And after the song about Christ, they called a song about the Lord’s coming back. And after the Lord’s coming back…

I tell you, brother, we have a lot of measuring, comparing, that we just forget the Lord. Our whole being was occupied with all kinds of nonsensical activities. Are you busy? I tell you, brother, you’re busy with nonsense. Do you agree with me? You are so busy just to find out, did I make it, did I not make it, will l I make the elder happy, did I make myself clear in the meeting, do the brothers appreciate what I say, do they not appreciate what I say, did I call the right song or the wrong song…I tell you, when we do everything, our conscience is no good. But on this thing, our conscience is very good. Do you know what I mean? We can do a lot of things hurting people, damaging people, and we don’t have any feelings. But on this very point we are saturated with it because we love ourselves too much. We’re filled with self-pride or self-pity. When we made it, self-pride comes out. Look, a future apostle is coming up right over here. When we couldn’t make it, we say, oh Lord, how come I don’t grow? You’re not for growing for growth, you are growing for yourself. 

Paul says it very simply. He says, you look at me, I’m a simple brother. He says, we have no confidence in our self even to think of anything. I don’t care about myself. I don’t care. Brother, did you lose your temper this morning? You did? Why should you remember it? Why don’t you tell me, Satan, could you get away from here? Did you lose your temper this morning? You better say, Satan could you get away from here. You all laugh, but this is the way to deal with yourself. Never look at yourself. Never evaluate yourself. Always ask, “now.” Now, how is Christ? Do you have Christ now? You have to say Amen. If you say, no Christ, then you have to say, “Oh Lord Jesus!” Then you got it, amen. I have to make sure that now I have Christ.

Were you thinking some wild things just five minutes ago? You have to say, Satan, could you get away from here. We all have to learn to forget about self, realizing our competency is in Christ. If we have any competency, this competency is from Christ.

The Simplicity of Ministry (2 Cor. 3:12)

So then we go to another verse, chapter 3, verse 12. “Seeing the we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech” (2 Cor. 3:12 KJV). Don’t you like this? “Use great plainness of speech.” You see, all the workers like to be sophisticated. All the workers like to be sophisticated. You know, this word “plainness” is from the Greek word, “galigala.” And this Greek word is from another word. And that word is formerly the word eel. And this eel was first found in a certain stone and a certain desert and was discovered in 1887 by a famous nonsense doer; his name is Joke. But I tell you all the preachers are like this. If a preacher cannot do something like this, he’s not a scholar, right? If you are a preacher, you got to do this kind of thing. “Gali gala” or “nonsense joke,” right? If you want to be a good preacher, you got to do these things. 

Paul says, what “galigala”? I don’t know what you’re talking about and if you ask me, let me tell you. With me, we use great plainness of speech. If Jesus is a savior, then let me tell you, Jesus is a savior. I will never say Jesus plus cheesecake is a savior. Jesus is the savior! If the church is God’s economy, I will tell you the church is God’s economy. I will now say the church plus the beach is God’s economy. 

I tell you, the workers always try to make things complicated. A simple thing, a simple statement, a simple truth, once it got into the hand of a worker, it becomes so complicated. Then the violin comes in, the tambourine comes in, then the guitar comes in, then the trumpet comes in, then all kinds of music instruments come in. I tell you, brother, no need of anything. I don’t mean, don’t play guitar, that is not my point. My point is we try to make things complicated. We like to have a structure. If we have a structure, it is very good. No structure is no good. We forget the principle of the ministry is plainness.

You have to forgive me. I’ve been with you two days. Don’t you see that I’m so simple? Did you see that I’m ready to be thrown out anytime? I never tried to make things complicated; I never tried to add something to make it sophisticated. I tell you this is the truth and that means this is the truth. You see, we like to make things so complicated to prove we know too much, to prove we are able to do too much. 

Even I just tell you young people in this way. I tell you, even the thought, we need to go to campus, get a house, two houses, three houses… (We got houses in Cleveland too). But if you have that kind of thought, that without a house, the gospel cannot be preached; if we have a sub house or the brothers house, if the house has good sofas, a nice piano, then we can present ourselves; then we will have a lot of people brought; you must be a daydreamer. Nobody would give themselves to the recovery because you have a good sofa. Do you believe anybody will be caught by a sofa? But that is our concept, right? Buy a beautiful house with new wallpapers right away, put nice furniture, a good piano…it seems nobody would love Jesus; they all love wallpaper, piano, sofa, house. We like these kind of things. 

And then I would ask a brother, do you preach the gospel? No? The reason I don’t preach gospel is because the church hasn’t preached the gospel. Why doesn’t the church preach gospel? Because you know, when the church says, “Next month we’ll have three days gospel meeting, and everybody will pray for one month, then we’ll pass out ten thousand tracts, and then we’ll talk with people. We’ll bring them to the meeting. That is a time the gospel is preached.” You see, all this proves you are in the work. You are not plain, you are not in simplicity. A person that is plain or a person that is simple, they don’t think of all these things. Whether there’s a house, whether there’s a sofa, whether there’s a gospel meeting, or there’s no gospel meeting—they only realize if somebody’s going to hell, he needs to be saved. That’s it. With that burden, it makes no difference whether there’s a house. It makes no difference if you have a piano. 

Let me ask you brothers, how many of you come to the church in Seattle because the meeting hall is so attractive? Would you raise up your hand? I do believe you have one of the best halls in the recovery, right? I have not been in Atlanta so I don’t know, but I heard they had a big hall. But surely beside Anaheim, this is really the best, right? It’s beautiful and wonderful—do you need it? You need it. Do you depend on it? You don’t depend on it. Do you know what I’m talking about? You need the hall. Don’t say, “oh Titus, you don’t agree with a hall.” I fully agree with the hall, but I’m afraid you’re complicated. You think that without a hall, I don’t do the job. Brother, I tell you, without anything you do the job. Why? Because you have Christ with you, and Christ is right in you. You preach the gospel. When you preach the gospel, when you bear fruit, you should be so simple, so plain with the plainness of speech. That is where the fruit will be brought in. 

For instance, you brothers met me. I was wandering on the street, drinking beers, singing peculiar songs, moving around like a snake. And then you look at me and you are filled with pity. You’re saturated with pity. This poor Chinese man, he’s too old and he doesn’t know what to do anymore. So brother, you begin to have a burden. You’re going to pray, Lord remember that poor Chinese man. He moves around like a snake, he drinks beer, he’s singing a kind of peculiar song. Lord, be merciful. Then you will bring him to the meeting because you’re burdened, right? You would come to me. Hey friend, would you like to go to the meeting? Let me tell you, I’m in the most happy church life. I can testify to you, I’m in the place where the happiness in that place is higher than any other place! What? Do you have a dancing party there to make you so happy? No. Do you have cheesecake? No! Do you have candy? No. You have a piano? Yeah, we have a piano that we play for the need. What do you have? We have Jesus Christ who is so living, who is so enjoyable! 

I tell you, whether the meeting hall is a 40 minute drive, 20 minute drive, 5 minute drive, 5 minute walk, or one more step, it makes no difference—because you’re burdened for me. If you say, I’m burdened for nobody, why? The house has not been bought yet. Do you think I’m joking? I’m afraid many of you young ones are waiting for some setup where you can do a good job. Do you agree with me? Please, brother, I say it in love. I’m afraid many of you young ones are always waiting for the “setup.” When you buy the house, you don’t do the job, why? Because the wallpapers are not put on yet. When the wallpapers are put on, you don’t do the job, why? Because the furniture has not come in yet. When the furniture has come in, you still don’t do the job, why? Because the piano has not been bought yet. When the piano is bought, you still don’t do the job, why? Because you waited too long, and you died already. 

You just can’t do that. Do you agree with me? But suppose you live in a large German home. Oh Lord Jesus, cover me with your presence. Let me experience you in all the practical matters more than I attach myself to another. Let’s pray, brother, let’s pray. Let’s live for the church, let’s live for the recovery! Then I tell you, within me there’s a fire burning, you know what I’m talking about? I have the kind of burden, the kind of anxiety, I’m not distracted by anything else, I only know one thing. Now I go to the University of Washington, and somebody got to be saved! Now you preach with sincerity as of God in the presence of the Lord and with plainness of speech. I tell you, everything is most simple but it becomes most effective. This is Paul’s secret. You say, Paul, how come you are so prevailing? He says, I don’t have a piano, I don’t have a sofa, I don’t have a brother’s house, I don’t have wallpaper, I don’t have anything. I only have this wonderful Christ, and I enjoy Christ, I experience Christ, and allow Christ to flow out of me. Therefore, wherever I go, I make people live and I make people die. Now are these clear? You see, the exercising of the ministry related to preaching is so simple. Is that clear? So simple. Even though these things are related to preaching, I tell you, whatever your ministry is, the principle is the same. 

Let’s go on. I’ll just read to you one more verse. 1 Corinthians 2:1 “And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.”

That means, in the work, you always have to have excellency of speech and wisdom. Otherwise, you can’t survive; you can’t do a good job. 

The Manifestation of Ministry (2 Cor. 4:2, 4)

Then, let’s come to another point: point 6. That is in chapter 4, verses 2 & 4. Here he says, “But we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty not walking in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully,” but by what? “But by manifestation of the truth.” Who is the one that preaches healthily? Who is the one that has a ministry? Ministry doesn’t come out just by what we say, it comes out by who we are: the manifestation of the truth. 

You know, brothers, if you live in the dormitories, if you are with your peers, you always should be manifested. I remember when I was in military school. I was in the officers’ language school, learning English, when I was quite young. This is of the Lord—He realized possibly I would come to this country. So I worked as an interpreter with Americans when I was just about twenty years old. I was first put in the officers’ language school to learn English for a whole year. In that school, there’s a big dorm with about forty people living and sitting in one dorm. The beds are arranged by fours—two bunk beds put side by side together. In the dorm, they were older; I was possibly one of the youngest. Then, when these bachelors come together, what do they do? They talk about a lot of nonsense. But, Lord cover me, let me testify to you. Everytime I walked into the dorm, they stopped talking. I just walked by them, and they had to say, “Don’t talk, here he comes.” In a whole year’s time, I did not hear one filthy word come out of their mouths. None of them dared to speak one filthy word to me. If they did, they knew I would lose my temper. Because they realized, this guy is a peculiar guy! What is this? The manifestation of the truth. Then, you may say, “Titus, did you get anybody saved?” No, not one. Only one, I found out about last year. Last year, brother Lee and I went back. I was doing some interpretation, sitting in one corner, and one of the ushers, he said, “Hey, Titus Chu!” I said, “What?” He said, “Do you remember me?” I said, “No.” He said, “I was your schoolmate in that officers’ language school.” Well, somebody got him saved! Hallelujah. 

You see, brothers, do you realize the principle of fruit-bearing? You have to see things in 1998, and not 1978. Don’t be so short-sighted. See things far away, because the Lord is going to come back, and you have another twenty years to live on this earth. You never know when the Lord is doing what. You see, when that brother shook hands with me and told me he was saved, I tell you, within me—oh, the kind of joy—“Praise the Lord! Amen! Praise the Lord!” Why? Because the manifestation of truth will bear eternal value. Is that clear? 

Weakness versus the Justification of Sin

You have to realize, don’t be sloppy with your daily life. The kinds of teachings that say you can be loose, you can drink beer; the kinds of teachings that say, “Only the decent, strong men can afford not to smoke, not to drink beer, not to watch TV—and we are those who are born not so strong, therefore the Lord has mercy on us.” 

Brothers, let me tell you, these kinds of teachings, to my realization—Lord cover me with His precious blood, but I say it out of sincerity—must be devilish. Everyone has weakness towards sin, as I do, but everyone needs to realize, now, in Jesus Christ, there’s no more condemnation. 

“For the law of the spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death.” You should not give up the law of the spirit of life. You should not abide in the law of sin and death, then excuse yourself with your weakness. You know, brothers, anyone teaching this kind of loose thing, I’m afraid there’s something creeping in just to damage the large recovery, to damage us, to ruin us. I tell you, brothers, I’m a liberal person, a free person. So if you go home to watch TV tonight, I don’t believe I’ll be very bothered. But if you put a TV in the living room, I will be quite bothered. 

Do you know the difference between weakness and the justifying of sin? Everyone has some weakness right? It’s legal, but it’s hidden. The Lord allows everyone to have some weakness for the sake of pushing them to Him. Because when you have weakness, you have to go to the Lord. But when we legalize our weakness, it is sinful. You know, “Praise the Lord, yesterday I went home, I just felt Titus’ message was not good enough. Therefore, I watched a late night movie.” What kind of thing is this? This is sinful. This damages the body of Christ. This ruins the testimony of the Lord. I mean, suppose you are weak. If you’re weak, what do you need to do? Hide under the Lord’s blood. Tell the Lord, “Lord, I don’t like it. I’m so weak. I hide under your blood. Please forgive me, cover me. Lord, I do pray that the law of the spirit of life would release me from all these bondages.” 

You shouldn’t justify your sinfulness. You shouldn’t justify your looseness. You shouldn’t justify your weakness. You should not be accused, but you should go to the Lord. Don’t justify your hunger. Don’t just say, “I’m so hungry.” Go eat something! Don’t be accused. “You’re a bad guy, you’re always hungry, you must eat three meals a day…” Don’t be accused, but go eat! The weakness was given to us. The Lord allowed it to happen to us for only one reason—so that we may know how to turn to the Lord. It is for no other reason. It is not for us to testify, it is not for us to glorify, it is not for us to boast, it is not for us to justify. It is just for us to realize: Without the blood, we cannot survive. Without the presence of the Lord, we cannot survive. So, brothers, you must realize, a proper life should be the manifestation of truth. Do we have weaknesses? The Lord knows, but it’s not for us or for others to judge. Yet it’s a shame for us to expose it, for us to tell others, “Praise the Lord, I’m so weak. Praise the Lord, I just feel so free to drink wine. Praise the Lord, I’m free to drink beer.” I do know there’s this kind of nonsense talk in the recovery. Brothers, I tell you, this must be from the evil one—to damage, to ruin the Lord’s recovery.

The Commending of Ministry (2 Cor. 4:2–4)

Then, the last point. There is not only manifestation of the truth, but also “commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (2 Cor. 4:2). 

A proper ministry is always commending to others’ consciences. Think about one day, if Brother Lee visits you. Imagine he comes to the front, stands up, and says, “Brother, let me tell you, I am the apostle.” Isn’t that ugly? Have you ever heard Brother Lee say, “I’m the apostle”? Why don’t you hear that? President Carter would say, “I’m the president,” right? Didn’t he say that a lot when he argued with Congress? Why did Brother Lee never say, “I’m the apostle”? Because real ministry comes by the commending to others’ consciences. When you think about others’ consciences, they know what is right. Do I make sense to you, brothers? You must realize, you must trust the conscience of the churches. Realize: Testify the move of the Lord. 

Let me just ask you one thing. When you are preparing all the cheesecake, how was your conscience? Did you feel that anointing? Brothers, take my word, be honest. When you are playing ball games and forgetting about the meeting, when you are telling yourself, “If I have a contact to meet today, I don’t have to go to church meetings,” when you are involved in these things, within your conscience, do you have the commendation? Do you have a real sense that the Lord says, “my good servant”? I really doubt it. I do believe that when we are involved in a lot of things, within us, we realize, it’s not right. But we want to be in the flow. Really, it’s not anyone’s fault, right? We try to be in the flow. Because we try to be in the flow, we neglect our conscience. But the principle in the Bible is this: the right thing will always be to commend to our conscience. Within our conscience, we have the registration—who is where, who did what. 

Does that make sense to you, brothers? I know these words are very heavy. I don’t mean anything bad, but let us just make things plain, for the recovery’s sake. Within your conscience, don’t you have the realization, what is right, what is wrong? But you see, I know young people are scared of the flow. Not only young people, even me. I get scared, because for many years I was told I was not in the flow. Forget about how people talk about you. If something is from the Lord, it will always pass through a test. If something is not from the Lord, it needs to be burned away. Don’t be afraid of this or that. Learn to live according to your conscience. Learn to commend your work to others’ consciences. 

This is the secret of Apostle Paul. The apostle Paul is so simple. He said, “Do you know? I manifest the truth and I commend myself to others’ conscience in the sight of God.” Praise the Lord. I hope I didn’t cause any accusation. None of us need to abide in regret, none of us need to be accused. We all need to turn to the Lord and go on positively. But I do feel, since we have come to these verses, let us make it clear. Don’t you see the principle here? The principle here is not to be afraid that you don’t have success, it’s to be afraid that others’ consciences begin to reject you. Whether I have success or not, it’s not important. But if the conscience of the saints begins to reject me, that is important. Don’t offend others’ consciences. Learn to abide in our conscience. Then also learn to commend ourselves to others’ consciences.

Brothers, that is a precious thing. I’m so thankful to the Lord. Everyone that has served the Lord will always confront the evil report, the good report, the honor, the shame—all these things that Paul testified of. But one thing for sure, we always have to ask ourselves: How about our conscience? How about commending ourselves to others’ consciences? If that is okay, the others are okay. If that is not okay, nothing’s okay. Brothers, if your consciences reject me, I have no way to use my authority. I cannot say, “Brothers, don’t you know I have been saved for twenty-five years? Don’t you know I have read the Bible how many times? Don’t you know I’ve been in many churches?” Your conscience already says, “What is this? Junk.” Then it’s over. Don’t pay attention to work. Pay attention to the ministry. The ministry is related to the Spirit. And the ministry is manifest in our conscience and also in others’ consciences. 

If Our Gospel Be Hid

Then Paul said something quite strong in verse three: “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.” Some, even though their conscience has some feeling, they would still refuse to take it. When you preach the gospel, when you display Christ, when you exalt the name of the Lord, when you proclaim the unity of the body, when you proclaim one body, one church, one city, everybody’s conscience is convinced, but some still would reject you.

You know, in Cleveland, there was a man named Bob S. He had a ministry called Bob S. ministry. He had a burden to say that we’re a cult. So one of the brothers, Eric Larson, got a burden and went to see him in the morning. He said, “I’d like to have a talk with you.” After the talk, Eric realized Bob didn’t even know the triune God. He believed in three gods, instead of one, so the brother clarified to him: there’s only one God. After the brother made it clear to him, they had morning watch two mornings every week. They prayed for about an hour and a half. This brother was really quite an engine. He drove over to his place and prayed with him twice a week.

After a couple of weeks, the minister said, “I still want to have a seminar.” So we brothers shared to the church that he would have a seminar. Therefore, many brothers picked up the burden and wrote a letter to tell him saying, “Would you please not do this? You know, there’s no need to cause this kind of problem. Would you please just preach the gospel?” I wasn’t in Cleveland, these things happened when I was traveling in another place, but I believe we wrote possibly two hundred letters. 

But he still got a seminar. In his seminar, he said we believe Jesus had a sinful nature and he had a quote from a certain book, by changing the context. And he said we don’t believe Jesus is coming back, and we believe the church is a fourth of the Godhead. Are you going to fight with this kind of guy? There’s no conscience. Do you know what I mean? We were just wondering, “Why did he get so zealous and bothered by us?” 

But, you know, we had two brothers who went to the seminar. At the end of the seminar, there was a Q&A time with the brother. So, one of the saints asked the brother a question. I don’t know what the question was, but he answered in this way, “Do you know, we are the church here, we don’t like denominations neither.” But he met in the denomination’s basement. “We don’t like denominations either. I don’t have anything to do with denominations, and we are here just as a church.” If you are the church, why don’t you fellowship? Then he said, “Why would these people come to our turf?” You see, the whole motive was exposed. The only reason he said that we’re a cult is because we went to his turf. Do you know the word “turf”? It is the gang’s territory. In that Q&A, he fully exposed himself. 

You know, brothers, these kinds of people don’t have a conscience. They will lie, they will cheat, they will do everything just to protect their work. There’s no conscience, and if you ask, “Do they know whether we are right?” They do know. I tell you, brother, if you fellowship with many of the Christians about the oneness of the body, about the local church, about one city, one church, about the life, about Jesus Christ as the all-inclusive one, about the all-inclusive life supply—they would all agree, but many would reject you purposely. Why? Because they realize they can’t afford to take it. Once they take it, everything is over. 

So brothers, if you’re not successful, be happy, because Jesus Christ was not successful. Do you know what he did was a lousy job? Three and a half years, and one betrayed him? Could you do a better job than that? If I were him, I would sit there breaking bread for three years, and then the whole earth would be mine. Everyday I would get one bread, and everybody who wants to come and eat, then I organize them by eating. Then after three years, the whole earth is mine. I would control the whole earth. Isn’t He not too wise in serving? Then he got a Judas, with the intention that Judas would betray him. 

Don’t Aim at Any Success

You know brothers, don’t aim at any success. Pay attention to conscience and also realize that there will always be someone who must have the gospel hidden from them. Why? Because “it’s hid to them that are lost.” Because these people are lost. Verse four says, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” They are blinded by the god of this world, and these gods are also exercised. This very god of this world has power over Christianity. People argue: “We don’t believe that this can be practical. We don’t believe that it’s workable.” 

We don’t care if it’s practical, workable or not. We only care what the Bible says. It may not be workable, but the Bible says that we do it. It may not be practical, but the Bible says that we do it. We don’t aim at anything, we only follow the pure Word of God. But people’s conscience would have a registration. Even if they reject you, within them, within the deepest part of them, they still know. How do I prove this? After they had the seminar, we didn’t argue about any truth, we just had three brothers write three articles. Every article rebuked him to the utmost. He didn’t answer with any word. He surely knew how to bear the cross. Why does he know how to bear the cross? His conscience disallowed him to do anything. Within him, he realized he was devilish. And within him, he realized he was touching the children of God. But, would he follow the way? No, he had his work, his career. 

So brothers, I just read these two verses to you with one purpose. Would you please tell the god of this world to get out of here? Say, “I don’t want any more cheesecake or candy or organ or a beach—I don’t want any of these things, I only care for Christ! I only care for the testimony of Christ!” This is what we need to care for. We should drop all the methods, all the ways. If the Lord burdens you and gives you some ways, that is from the Lord. But we should never use any way as a movement, because that is the very thing that will damage and ruin the large recovery. 

Oh, Lord Jesus. I know this kind of word is a fight. It’s a real fight, a spiritual fight. By the Lord’s mercy, I can. You brothers allow me to say it, and you brothers take it. Let’s move onto the other aspect. 

Work (2 Cor 2:17, 2 Cor. 10:12, 1 Cor. 2:1, 2 Cor. 4:2)

How about the workers? In verse seventeen it says, “Make a trade” (2 Cor. 2:17, Darby).  Then in chapter 10, verse 12 says, “Measuring.” Who are the workers? First, they make a trade of the word. Second, they always measure. Third, they always compare. Then point four, they always make the excellency of the speech (1 Cor. 2:1). Then point five, that will be in 2 Corinthians chapter four verse two—that they are always doing the hidden things of dishonesty. You know, brothers, you allow me to explain to you the whole of Christianity. Lord cover me to say this— the whole of Christianity is saturated with the hidden things of dishonesty. 

Chrisitianity Hidden and in Dishonesty (2 Cor. 4:2)

I came to this country to study theology. I was in seminary, but I was spiritually in the cemetery. I came from Taiwan to this country, I went to Texas, I went into a seminary. I was there for two days, and I got it. I know, this is not life. The whole thing had problems. They had a kind of chapel service: all the students would come together once a week on Wednesday or Thursday morning, and the professor would give a sermon. Then before that, they would pick out the best student to offer some prayer, and of course since I was a new student, I was not qualified to be picked. Praise the Lord for that, so I was listening to the prayer. You know, we were so godly, so simple. So we walked in with a desire, we wanted to touch the Lord. And then when we said let’s bow our heads and pray, we really bowed our heads and prayed. And we really began to exercise our spirits. But, when I wanted to say “amen,” it didn’t come out. I said, it’s peculiar, why can I not “amen”? Maybe I’m wrong. So I listened to the prayer, I tried to say Amen, I can’t. You just could not “amen” the entire thing! But the prayer was more than beautiful. It was a wonderful prayer. I said, “what’s wrong?” When I opened my eyes, I saw that he was reading the prayer. He was publicly reading it. I didn’t believe many were saved in that seminary.

Then, there was a professor, he was quite dynamic and preached very dynamically. So, I said I better have a talk with him to find out what’s wrong, what’s happened to the whole thing. It just didn’t make sense. When we were in the Far East, when we thought about the seminary, we thought: Darby will be one course, Andrew Murray will be another course, you learn Hebrew, you learn Greek, you learn how to read the Bible, all of Luther will be one course. But when we got there, we just learned about nonsense. So I went to see the professor. I walked in, I saw that he had his feet on the table and was smoking a pipe. All of my spirit was gone. He said, “hey Mr. Chu, what do you want to say?” I said, “I have nothing more to say.” I walked out and I left the school. I began to realize the whole thing was hidden and in dishonesty. Nothing was realistic. Nothing presented the Lord. Nothing glorified the Lord. Everything was a trade or a kind of living. And more than that, also, walking in craftiness. Not only in dishonesty, but also in craftiness. Dishonesty is an attitude. Craftiness is a skill. When you have dishonesty, then you have craftiness. 

The One in the Work Walking in Craftiness (2 Cor. 4:2)

This is another point. Who are the ones in the work? The one who is in the work will always walk in craftiness. “With many ways” means methods. That’s why, brothers, you know why I am bothered with the methods we have, because these are in the principle of craftiness. Isn’t Jesus enough? Isn’t preaching Jesus enough? Why must you add a cheesecake into it? Do you know what I’m talking about? Isn’t preaching Jesus enough? Why must you add in some programming to it? These are craftiness. Christianity is filled with craftiness. 

After I left the seminary, I spent a lot of time, quite a few months, wandering around trying to find a church, because with us, we don’t start anything. We always look around to see if the Lord has done something already. I found out, all the pastors ran hundred-yard dashes. I was very surprised. All the pastors learned it. Because usually they pray. After the message, they say, “Let’s pray,” right? So somebody will pray or something. Right after the pastor prayed, he was at the front door already, shaking hands with everybody: “Come back again, come back again, come back again.” How could they run so fast? Craftiness. 

I’m not joking, when you think about the whole thing, don’t you feel that it’s crafty? Making a girl stand up, singing with a short skirt, selling fornication. Isn’t that craftiness? The program at the cathedral yesterday, just the big cross at the top of the ceiling, thousands of lightbulbs, all kinds of colors, changing all the time. And the big platform with a few hundred in the choir standing on top of it. You push the button, the whole platform goes down; you push a button, the whole platform comes up. Isn’t that craftiness? Everything, they do everything just to gain you. 

Our Family Tradition Should Have No Craftiness

Brothers, now, realizing with us, we have a family tradition. Among us, we have never used or had any kind of craftiness. But you see, with us, even gradually, we learned dishonesty. We began to use the hidden things. Not only did we have the hidden dishonesty, we began to walk in craftiness. We don’t preach the gospel, we tell them we want to invite them for a meal. Why didn’t you tell them you want to preach Jesus to them? What are you afraid of? If you have a burden, that’s wisdom—the Lord leads you not to preach now, and invite them for a meal. That’s okay. But if you sell this as a method of the recovery: don’t tell the name first, invite them to a meal first, even drink some wine with them, what is this? This is definitely craftiness. Walking in craftiness. And more than that: it’s handling the Word of God deceitfully.

Handling the Word of God Deceitfully (2 Cor. 4:2)

If the denominations, Christianity, don’t sell the socks and eggs and the bunnies, do you think they could survive? I doubt they could survive. They have to sell the Christmas trees, the socks, the bunny, the eggs. The membership is the society, there’s no Christ, there’s no Lord. No Christ, no Lord, the membership is just a society. I come to your son’s birthday, you come to my daughter’s birthday, I make a cake for you, you make a candle for me. The whole thing is deceived. The whole Word of God is totally hidden. No light, no speaking, no voice, no work. The Lord has raised us up as a testimony. Watch, brothers, don’t allow the whole thing to be lost in your generation. 

Don’t get into this kind of thing—handling the Word of God deceitfully. Who has the liberty to preach? Preaching these kinds of things, such as, “You must have Christmas. Go have a Merry Christmas.” There’s no idol worshipping in Catholic Church, but the whole thing is deceiving, handling the Word of God deceitfully. Brothers, I’m very heavy. 

Keeping Our Family Tradition (part 2)

The History of Our Heritage

You brothers may realize, even though I’m not excited, I’m not shouting, but my spirit feels so heavy. The Lord has raised us up. The Lord realized, nothing works. Therefore, the Lord has sent an old sister, Miss Barber, all the way from England to Fuchow, and the Lord has used this sister to gain our dear brother Watchman Nee, who is martyred for our sake. The Lord has used brother Nee to gain brother Lee. And the Lord has raised up a healthy, strong testimony in the Far East, as the prototype. But the burden of the Lord is still in this country. Therefore, the Lord gave up mainland China, forced the brothers to Taiwan, then forced brother Lee out of Taiwan to come to this country, to bring all the recovery to you, and then, from you brothers, to the whole earth. 

But brothers, I’m sorry, when it comes to us, I’m afraid that if we are not careful, we are going to ruin it. Brothers, let me ask you, how are you going to see brother Nee? Are you going to see brother Nee with cake? Are you going to see Watchman Nee and tell him, “Praise the Lord, we have a good time! We have games, we have balls, we have cheesecake.” Do you have the face to do this? Brothers, I don’t know how I’m going to see brother Lee, brother Nee, when the Lord comes back. By the Lord’s mercy, brother Lee is still here, So we can be properly helped, changed, corrected. But brothers, when brother Lee is not here, I’m afraid we will be over. 

Last year, the whole year, the Lord knows, within me, there was heaviness. The heaviness for the recovery. Lord, you have done so much since 1920 something. You raised up brother Nee, you let the brother go through so many things, just to produce a testimony here, prepare us to go to Europe, to go to Africa, to go to North America, South America, to take over every place to allow your testimony to be raised up. But now, just when it has come to us, we are ruining it. I’m not rebuking anyone. I feel very shameful. I’m one of the older co-workers in the recovery, in the United States, and I didn’t do a thing, and I couldn’t do a thing. I feel very shameful. I’m not condemning anyone, I’m condemning myself. I told the Lord, “Lord, forgive me that I wasn’t faithful.” If there’s any place, but I was heavy. The Lord has given us something so high that is our tradition, our heritage. 

Being Absolute for the Testimony of Jesus

The first crop of co-workers, everyone was martyred. Brother Watchman Nee, martyred. In the present, Dr. Yu, martyred. Sister Li, martyred. Sister Wang, martyred. The first crop the Lord raised up to carry the work – five of them, besides brother Lee – was sent out. All of the four, martyred in the present. Besides them, many were martyred to raise up a prevailing testimony of Jesus. But brothers, don’t allow it to be ruined in our hands. 

I’ll tell you some stories, just for you to realize what kind of way we have. When Dr. Yu was in the present, communists made a very simple deal with him. Just make a statement, “Watchman Nee had mistakes,” and you will be discharged. You will be released out of prison, you just have to make one statement, “Watchman Nee made mistakes.” Isn’t this proper and easy to do? He said, “No, I’m not gonna say it.” Then his wife, sister Yu, came to help him, “You know, why don’t you say it?” “No.” Sister Yu, apparently, knew the Lord, so there was not too much hurt from it. Then, the son came, “Dad, please say it. Please do this. Everyone makes mistakes. Who doesn’t make mistakes? You are not lying, you are not accusing, you didn’t do a thing. Just repeat the fact: Watchman Nee made mistakes!” He called his son, “From now on, I will never see you again. Whether Watchman Nee made a mistake or not, it’s none of my business. It’s up to the Lord to say, it’s not up to me to say.” From then on, he never saw his son again. He was one for the recovery. It was a simple reason. It was not a big thing, a small statement. For that small statement, he forsook his family. He forsook his son for the testimony of Jesus Christ, and he died in the present. After he was martyred, his son was really revived. Because his son realized, this is the Lord’s testimony! Only the Lord’s testimony could produce people like this! Brothers, what we have inherited is not something cheap. It’s not because one brother was gifted, therefore he started the work, and then we followed him. No, this way was paved by blood, by tears. 

Many of the songs Watchman Nee wrote are not translated. Some of the songs, I can’t read, I can’t sing. If I were to sing that kind of song, I would weep, I couldn’t continue, they are too deep. Watchman Nee had a lot of tears for you to be here today. Don’t look down on this, it’s not a small thing. We are not in the church playing around. We are in the recovery. We are in the Lord’s testimony. 

Respecting the Authority of the Church

He wrote a song, even when he was in a sense excommunicated. But he never did a thing. When a certain church was not so right and improperly excluded him, you could know how rich this man is. He just left that place. Even when the brothers came to him to beg him, “Why don’t we meet together? These elders were wrong. They didn’t do it right. We can meet together.” He said, “No, I will never touch the church. The church is the church.” It is so different with today’s young people. “The elders control us. The elders are dominating over us.” Brothers, the elders never expelled you improperly. The elders expelled Watchman Nee improperly, but Watchman Nee said, “I never want to do a thing.” Then, he went to the church in Chong Qing. Over there, the leading ones invited him to break the Lord’s Table, saying, “Let the church in a certain place expel you, but we welcome you, we receive you.” He says, “No, we are in the one testimony. If I am excluded in one church, then I am not qualified to take the Lord’s Table in this church.” 

Brothers, now you come to the Lord’s Table, and you say, “There’s no religion!” So what? Throw the loaf around? Pass the cup around with jokes? With fun? You know what I’m talking about. Taking the Lord’s Table in such a light way. Look how Watchman Nee related to the Lord’s Table. Even the elders begged him to take the Lord’s Table, “Recover your ministry, in our place.” “No.” “Why?” “I respect the church.”

Then, the brothers asked him to share something. “Why don’t you minister to us?” “No.” “Why?”  “I cannot share. I’m expelled.” “But that is not right.” Watchman Nee said, “What is right or not is of the Lord. I have to abide in the church.” Who are you, brother, to say the elders were controlling, the elders were wrong? What do you have? For such a spiritual man as Watchman Nee, with all the riches he had, he would say things like this. He told brother Chang Yu Lan, and Chan Yu told me personally, Watchman Nee said, “Brother, let me tell you. My ministry is over.” Brothers, for you to be over is nothing. If the church doesn’t have you how much would the church lose? But for him to be over, that was a great thing. The church couldn’t tolerate it. But he said, “My ministry is over.” He didn’t believe that his ministry could be recovered. Brother Chang Yu told me personally in this way, he said, “Watchman Nee told me personally, ‘I don’t believe my ministry can be recovered anymore. It’s over.’” Couldn’t he argue with the Lord? “Lord, for so many years you trained me. Nobody reads the Bible more than I do. Nobody prays more than I do. Nobody preaches gospel more than I do. Nobody has more vision than I do. With all the riches, Lord, for your church’s sake, I want to release them. So the saints can get help.” No, he said, “The church is the highest authority on this earth. If the church tells me I am wrong, then I am wrong. I don’t care about my ministry. I don’t care about the going on. Everything is handled by the Lord.”

Now you think about this man, then you think about us, about what we did. Isn’t that a shame? Shouldn’t we go to the Lord and say, “Lord forgive us.” This is our inheritance. This is our family tradition. The respect to the churches. The respect to the leading ones.

Not Caring about Their Lives, but the Testimony of Jesus

It was more than him. Every one of them. Another brother, his name is Chang Wu Chin. He is a leading brother in the Far East. He is a big husky brother. He got tuberculosis when he was really young, and he was vomiting blood. He personally told me this story. It was pretty serious, because many died of this sickness in the 1930s and 1940s. Many died in China. So he prayed, and the Lord gave him some work, and he was healed. Praise the Lord for this. But, after he was healed, he still preached. When he was preaching, he said when he was excited, preaching so dynamically, he would begin vomiting again. That’s what he said. Not just a little blood. A big mouthful of blood came out. 

Brothers, if I was him, I would say, I will not preach so excitedly, I would calm myself. I would take care of my health. He said, “No.” He told me, “When I was preaching, when the Spirit came, when my burden came, I had no choice but to be excited and release. And after I would release, a big mouthful of blood would come again. These are all brothers who paved the way for us. They loved the Lord without thinking of their lives. They didn’t care about their lives. They only cared about the testimony of Jesus. 

Then, he was in the training with Watchman Nee. Do you know all the riches? Do you know all these books? The Character of the Lord’s Worker, The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all these books are just through brother Nee’s one and two year ministry. You don’t know how rich that man is. Just two years, a little training. Today all the books, all the treasures, are in that two years after the Lord recovered his ministry. So rich, this man, in how he submitted to an improper church, in a sense. Lord cover me, because I am not qualified to say who’s improper.

Now I come to Chang Wu Chen. He was in brother Nee’s training. There is a course called, Read Yourself. Everybody has to say something. By saying something, brother Nee helps the person. And everyone could ask questions. So he asked Brother Nee a question. He said, “Brother Nee? My question was this. I had tuberculosis and the Lord healed me. But even after I was healed, after I prayed, I’m still vomiting mouthfuls of blood.” Brother Nee’s answer was very peculiar. He said, “Brother, what is real? The blood you see or the Word of God?” So he said, “The Word of God is real.” Then Nee said, “Just take the Word of God.” Do you know how spiritual we are? We are not in the realm of going to the beach to get twenty people. I don’t know how to utter this to you. God has given us something so high, and so one with God Himself. How spiritual these brothers are. 

Then, brother Chang Wu Chen’s daughter, she is about our age, she married one of the good brothers. I know quite well. When I was in the brother’s home, his daughter told me something about her father. She said, “In Taiwan, one day all of a sudden my father fainted.” That means brother Chang Wu Chen fainted, about to die. You know he’s kind of heavy so a heart attack, this kind of thing can happen any time. He’s about to die. At that moment, she said, everyone was so anxious and her father was praying. You listen to the prayer and you hear only one thing: “Lord, my burden was not discharged, I can’t go.” This is all the prayer. “Why can’t I go? Not because I want to live, but because you have burdened me with something, and this burden has not yet been discharged.”

It is something so high that even in the time of life and death, this person was spiritual before the Lord. This is our family tradition. I am very happy about these things. Brother Du – some of you know him, right? Brother Hudson Du. He told me the story about when they went on with the Lord. I don’t want to get into a lot of the sufferings. I know too many of the stories. If you want to talk with me, I can talk with you day and night about all the stories. I just give you one story he told me about the respect to the church, and about the godliness that was exercised in the church life. 

Having No Voice, but Living in the Godliness of the Presence of the Lord

He said in the early years, possibly 1951, ‘52, every Sunday afternoon they had the gospel preached in the new park in Taipei. They had music, they had a platform that was something like this. And he said that at that time, every Sunday there was preaching. One Sunday, it was showering, raining. It was raining heavily. And he said, they didn’t hear a word from the elders about whether they should go or not. You see, it was without a covering; it was just an open field. So, it was raining, and nobody would be in the park. But, he didn’t hear a word from the brothers yet. So he and the brothers in that team put on raincoats, and they had to move the organ with them, cover the organ completely and make sure no water got into it. They all went to the park – they didn’t care if it was raining, they didn’t care if it was not raining, they didn’t even dare to call the elders to find out. As long as the elders didn’t call them, they were going to do it.

Were they stupid? I tell you, brothers, I just wish all you young people could be that stupid. You are too smart. You are too smart in dealing with elders. You are too smart in taking church affairs. We need people that are that stupid. This kind of stupidness will raise up people who love the Lord, love the recovery, die for the Lord, die for the recovery. He told me, “Do you know why the church was so prevailing at that time? Just this one thing proved that the church had to be prevailing. The whole church had no voice. There was no noise, no opinion, no way, no method. Everyone lived in the godliness in the presence of the Lord. When there was a gospel meeting decided by the elders, then there was a gospel meeting. Whether there was rain, whether it was showering, whether someone was going to be there or not going to be there, it made no difference. Their job was to go there and stand there, so they went there and stood there and were stupid. That is why the Lord blessed them.

And that is why I can testify to you the time I was baptized through one gospel – just three days’ gospel. You know how many were baptized? Eight hundred. Today, people are about, “We gained seventy, we gained twenty.” I just think you don’t know what you’re talking about. The time I was baptized, eight hundred were baptized together through three days of gospel. I was baptized in 1953, January 17th. That was the fruit of the gospel of January 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. I was saved January 1st, 1953. After four hundred fifty were baptized, you couldn’t baptize more. Too much. So, about another three hundred, four hundred were baptized on Sunday morning. That is why Benjamin Chin was baptized Sunday morning. He was baptized January 18th. I still remember the date. Everything among us, there was a kind of godliness. 

Brothers, I don’t know how to share with you. I desire to be controlled by brother Lee. I don’t know how you feel. I would like to exercise godliness. Within me, I always desire to have a godly fear. I know the more I have a godly fear, the more I can serve the Lord. I’m just afraid something will creep into us – damage, break our family heritage, our family tradition. We will become opinionated. We will become loose. We will start taking church affairs just as a small thing to do. We will become routine in the church life. We don’t realize the church life carries the testimony of Jesus Christ and that this is the most serious matter. I just share these things with you. May the Lord be merciful to us. Let us keep our heritage. We didn’t finish the work and the ministry yet, but maybe it’s okay. May the Lord be merciful to us. How about we have a little prayer, then see how the Lord will lead us. 

(35 min of prayer and singing)

Question and Answer

Q: Earlier this morning, you shared about growing up with 1000 in the Recovery, many of whom were lost. Could you share to us how the Lord preserved you?

A: Well, the Lord truly has preserved me through the healthiness of the Body. All the damaging things started in 1958–59, when some brothers were affected by a certain preacher or a certain ministry and began to question the Recovery. Then, of course, there were a lot of words being passed around—of course, those words became damaging. 

Well, I was at the church in Taipei in hall number two. I was under the guidance of two elders: one was brother Hudson Du—I’m not quite sure if the other brother was an elder yet—his name is Liu Sui. One day after the meeting, brother Du told me, “Titus, I would like to see you in the elders’ room.” You know, that was quite a scary thing for me, to be called by an elder to the elders’ room. I didn’t know what I did wrong; I didn’t know what happened. Of course, I walked in with an attitude ready to be rebuked; But this day was peculiar: I walked in, he sat me down and then he said “I’d like to tell you a story.” He said, “Brother, do you know I was brought into the church in Shanghai? Not long after I was brought into that church, some of the key serving ones and leading ones invited me to a dinner. And during dinner time they began to talk about Watchman Nee. Then they began to say ‘Oh, that Watchman Nee! Oh terrible Watchman Nee. Oh, proud Watchman Nee.’ Then they began to tell some stories about Watchman Nee.” Then he told me one or two stories. After that he said, “Brother, what do you think about this? Who is right?” You know, I was sitting there and I was very surprised. Why, did he, all of a sudden, tell me the story and ask me who is right? So I was thinking, ‘Uhh, uhhh.’ While I was trying to figure out the answer, he just said “Titus, it’s none of your business. Whether Brother Nee is wrong, whether the other brother’s wrong, whether both are right, whether both are wrong. None of it is your business. You just love the Lord, love the church.” 

That five minute talk saved my life. Since then I got into a habit: I would not give anyone a chance to let me know anything. If a brother would call me and say, “Titus, let me tell you the news!” I have no interest in any news—I don’t like to listen. So when a brother begins to say anything about any brother or about the recovery, they always find out that there is a very strong wall there resisting. Why? Because I was advised with this very thing: “It’s none of my business.” I’m not the judge, God is the judge. My responsibility is not to know who’s right or who’s wrong; my responsibility is to love the Lord and to love the recovery. 

Brothers, up to today, I appreciate him, Hudson Du. Even this past summer, I told him, “Brother, I couldn’t tell you how thankful I am for that short time. You have saved my life.”  Young brothers, there is a lust in your ear, it is called an “itching ear.” You just like to hear who’s right, who’s wrong. You like to hear what’s going on; in terms of knowing the flow, you got all the gossip. You don’t need to know the flow. If you love the church in Seattle, I assure you, you’re in the flow. You take my word: if you are in Moses Lake, and if you love the church in Moses Lake, you’re in the flow; if you’re in Spokane and you love the church in Spokane, you are in the flow. You don’t need to know too much about the flow, because the flow is actually just a testimony. The definition of the flow is the production of testimony. It has nothing to do with practice. Is that clear? So, brothers, we like to know flow, and in terms of flow we like to hear a lot of who’s right, who’s wrong; to gossip: and it is natural! Don’t think you are healthy, strong, and that you can overcome, no! Anything you hear abides in you and bites you. 

I’ll just give you one illustration: all these years I only know one thing, and that one thing bothered me. Why? Because I was totally off guard. I was taking the lead in a district meeting, and in that district meeting there was an old sister. She was with Brother Lee in Chi Fu and in Shanghai; she was always fresh—a very appreciated older sister. At that time she was about sixty years old. I was a young brother, just 22 or 23. Therefore, I often would go to her room to pray, help, and fellowship. She liked me just like her own son. So one day I walked in, and all of a sudden she said, “You should only read Watchman Nee’s books.” “What?” I was shocked, “What do you mean by this?” She says, “You know, you get Watchman Nee’s book, you read it line by line, very slowly”—that is really the pray-reading principle, that principle is right, right? “Read very slowly, line by line, you will get a lot of help.” 

Then I began to realize, this was a peculiar talk. “Why did you tell me all of a sudden I should just read Watchman Nee’s book? Do you know what that means? Have you heard, “Just fellowship with a certain church”? These are all divisions, divisive things. “If you go to a certain church to see… you’ll get what I’m saying.” These are all the divisive talks in the recovery. Right? So I realized something was wrong, I said, “Sister, what happened?” She said, “You don’t know Brother Lee.” I say, “What’s wrong?” But I couldn’t guard myself because I trusted this sister so much. Then she said “Brother Lee was this, don’t you know? When this sister passed away some years ago….” I began to laugh, knowing it’s nothing. But when she spoke about it, it became  … something to me. She said, Brother Lee put a jade into her mouth. Before he buried her, he put a piece of jade into her mouth. Please don’t pass this around. Then Brother Lee would think I’m gossiping, I’m not gossiping here right? So, even if he does it, is it wrong? But anyway, I realized something was wrong. I didn’t want her to continue. I said, “Sister I think we better stop here.” I said, “I want to go home.” So I made it clear. Since then she never spoke another negative word to me. When I went home I just stopped. But even when I was home, the thing bothered me for two or three days. A jade in the mouth? Jade in the mouth? You know brother, don’t think you’re strong. Blessed are those who have a ear of godliness. A ear such that when they hear something, they have a kind of fear. They just don’t like to hear gossip. Elder’s are wrong, so and so is mad at his wife, then Brother Lee has these mistakes. 

This is why, brother, the main reason, I tell you, I’m kept. So in these years I do not know anything that is not godly. With me, the church is godly, with me the church is prevailing, with me the church is something worthy of all my life, all my being, all my future, all my days, everything I give for the church. Why is it worthy? Saints, up to today, I’m thankful for that five minutes. That healthy fellowship saved my life. If I didn’t realize this I might have gotten caught easily, because we’re young people. Now I pass his word to you brothers. You know I wouldn’t be surprised, especially in this country. Telephones are so convenient, right? I wouldn’t be surprised if you get some phone calls saying, “Brother Lee is like this, Brother Lee is like that, a certain church is like this.” You know brother before these start, you have to say “Please stop. Don’t treat me as a garbage dump.” You know brother, I tell you this, I prayed once and the Lord answered my prayer. I prayed that the Lord would give me a bad memory, so the Lord gave it to me. I really prayed because I realized we can easily remember too many things that are not necessary. 

When I came to the United States, I stayed with a brother and we were quite close. So he was the one who told me a number of stories. Not in the way that was damaging me, because I was in the church life for ten years already, I knew how to take care of them. But surely they still bothered me. He told me maybe four, five, six, maybe even seven stories. So what did I do? I went to Brother Lee. I said, “Brother Lee, now I heard all the stories and I would like to find out. Did something like this happen?” “No”, “What about this story?” “No” “Well I heard something happened like this?” He said, “No!” After four, four, five, six times his patience was gone, he looked at me, and he said, “Titus, where did you get all of this junk?” Of course, then I don’t know how to answer. So I said, “Brother, I heard it from this brother.” Listen to what Brother Lee said, he said, “You better tell this brother, this is not healthy! The fly goes to where the garbage is.” Do you know what I mean? If people tell you a lot of things, you become an information center. This is not healthy. The fly goes where the garbage is. 

I have to say “Thank the Lord, I forget everything.” If you ask me, “What did you ask Brother Lee?” I won’t remember a thing, because I forget. Praise the Lord for this. But the thing I didn’t forget is, “The fly goes where the garbage is.” That’s why I tell you brothers, when you get phone calls, don’t be so happy. Don’t think, “I’m popular in the recovery.” Just check with yourself, “Am I a garbage can now? Are all the flies coming over like this? Why are all the negative things, all the dirty things, all the descending things, all the things that do not contribute, are not constructive in the recovery, why do they all come to me? Am I garbage?” You better clean yourself up, forget everything, and take a stand. Wash yourself and say, “I’m a vessel for Christ, not for garbage.” Take a stand about it. I wouldn’t be surprised if more phone calls come, but I do pray you brothers learn to stand before the Lord, be so strong. Refuse to be a garbage can. Make sure you are the vessel that contains the treasure only. Okay. Any more questions? 

Q: Can you give a word concerning the matter of attaching ourselves to some brothers?

Well, you see, brother, this is a matter of life. To attach yourself to some brothers, it is a matter of life, it is for the sake of testimony. You know brother I do realize there’s one limitation with us: whatever comes becomes an issue. For instance I give this message, “It’s a ministry and not work.” Immediately you all try to find out, “What is my gift, what will be my ministry?” You make issues. You have to realize nothing can be an issue, right? You have to realize it’s a matter of lordship, and not “What is my ministry.” You also have to say, “Lord am I under the lordship, am I under the lordship?” As long as you’re under the lordship, you will be a ministry. If you try to figure out your ministry, you will be nothing. Is that clear? If you try to be a ministry, you will be a problem someday. Proud, self-confident, and nobody can help you because you think you have a ministry. Only those who are under the lordship can have a ministry. 

The same principle with attaching to the brothers.… it’s basically out of the same vision, the same burden, the mutual communicable fellowship. For instance, it is not easy for me to attach to any sister. Why? There no mutual fellowship right? What I care about is a light in a Word, what I care about is the enjoyment of the Lord, what I care about is how to serve the Lord, how to raise up churches. What she cares about is how to raise the kids, how to cook a good meal, good dish, you see there’s no mutual fellowship. So these attachments, basically first, we all have to be clear we are not attached together by the soul.This attachment is for the Lord’s testimony for the Body. 

Then there must be this kind of communicatible fellowship. When I have a problem, you will understand. When you have some weakness I will understand. Don’t say that I like to attach myself to Brother Lee, there’s no mutual fellowship. If you don’t believe me you can go see him. Five minutes you sit there and don’t know what to do anymore, you have to stand up and say goodbye. Why is there no mutual fellowship? He is who he is, and you who you are, not the same. There’s no communicable fellowship. You need to attach yourself to someone where there is a communicable fellowship. 

Here you have the danger of bodyship. Here we have the danger of bodyship, therefore you must be clear, this is for the Lord’s recovery, this is for the Lord’s testimony. And of course, it is always good for the older ones, when they are in the church life longer, to be always burdened for a few who are younger. There will be a natural attachment, just like Benjamin Chen right? He was burdened for me. He was three years younger in age, but he was burdened for me. Because he was burdened for me, he picked me up. I began to become attached to him because we were all seniors in the same high school, we had the same problems. But I was a naughty brother in the church life, just coming in. I don’t know a thing, and he was trained for a year and a half, he knew a lot. Therefore I attached myself to him and he picked up a burden for me, and I received a lot of help. This is a healthy attachment. Is that clear brother? 

Does anyone feel that they don’t have someone they can pray with? If so, that is proof you don’t have an attachment. How do you know you’re attached to someone? Can you pray? If you have any needs, do you have simple way just go to a brother and pray with them without any hesitation? You can let them know the situation, they can pray with you, and they are burdened to pray with you. If you don’t have these brothers, you don’t have an attachment yet. Then you need to labor for attachment. Is that clear? Okay. Have more. Are you tired? 

Q: When you shared about not being the garbage can, my reaction would be to stay open to all the things to try to keep the oneness. So, I was wondering, what is our oneness based on? My feeling would be not to hurt anyone’s feelings, so I want to stay open to keep the oneness in my locality. 

The oneness is the oneness in Christ, right? The oneness has nothing to do with how much you know, what you can say. You see, brother, I don’t have to say, “I’m one with you”—I am one with you. For instance, this is the first time I’ve come here. I surely appreciate tonight’s meeting. I can fully discharge my feelings without any hesitation, and you brothers receive it so well. We were together for just two days, right? And we are so one! Why are we so one? Because we are one. Any oneness that is produced, that’s not genuine. The oneness is there. If you try to make a oneness, this shows that there’s craftiness already. The oneness is there, right? 

When I see a brother—you’re for the recovery, I’m for the recovery, then we are one, right? There’s no need for us to try to say, “Brother, now that I’m in Seattle, what do you do? Let me do what you do, so that we can be one.” Then that is not a real oneness. That is human craftiness, dishonesty. 

Secondly, for the sake of helping those who talk about things, the best way is to tell them to stop. Even a lie that you say five times becomes true. You didn’t eat breakfast but you tell people “I ate breakfast.” You tell five people you really ate breakfast. Even you begin to believe you ate breakfast. Because you said it five times already. Any lie, when you pass it around, becomes true. Don’t say that this liar said a mean lie. To them, they may think it’s true! Why? Because they lie too much! So the best way to help the brothers if they say anything, is to tell them, “Brother, don’t continue this, don’t talk about it. It’s not wise. It’s not right.” Then he says, “But I’m bothered!” You know, the people say this. “Then if you are bothered, don’t come to me. Go to the brothers, don’t come to me. Let these brothers help you.” 

I encourage every one of you in the church life, no matter how spiritual you are, don’t assume these responsibilities. You can assume responsibility in functioning, assume responsibility in shepherding, assume responsibility in everything, but don’t assume responsibility in dealing with garbage. You can’t. Even the elders sometimes have to learn not to listen. Many times, a brother comes and tries to tell me a story. I say, “Brother, please don’t finish it. Because if you finish it, I will be defiled. Please don’t finish it. Please stop right here.” We hear many people come to tell many stories about themselves or about others, and if we have an ear to listen to those, I tell you, we will be defiled. I tell you, Lord cover me, you just check with Catholic fathers – when they are listening to all the dirty things, what is on their minds? I don’t believe they are holy. Because you shouldn’t touch those kinds of things. If you touch it, in the Bible it says, you touch death. Once you touch death, you have to be cut off. You can’t move. You shouldn’t touch those kinds of things. 

So the real oneness is there already, and the brothers all know whether we are one or not. It’s very easy. I came here, even in the first meeting, I knew we were one. I don’t have anything I need to hide. Even from the first meeting, I start as a third meeting, right? That’s what Shermon’s word, he said, “I start the first meeting as the third meeting. No warm up.” Why? Because when I stand up, I realize we have a oneness. Something was clear with you brothers already. All that I need to do is make you brothers realize something positive by exposing the negative. This is my burden. From the first meeting, I could be so open because the oneness is here. There’s no need for us to do anything. 

But, brothers, if we allow the things to be open to us, we will be defiled, and they will get cheated. The more they repeat, the more they get cheated. Believe this word, because this is not from me, this is from Watchman Nee. He said, “When a person gives a false testimony after a few times, he will think that it is real.” Anything you repeat, after a few times, you believe it’s true. So you better be careful with this kind of talk. Tell the brothers, encourage them to pray, to go to the leading ones, or go to the source and clear it up with the leading ones. 

You know, just like I did once. I was wise. I heard seven of these kinds of stories and it bothered me, so what did I do? I went to Brother Lee directly. I was not hidden. I asked Brother Lee, “I heard this, is this true? I heard this, is this true? I heard this, is this true?” I checked every single one with him until he stopped me. He said, “Where did you hear these things? None of them are true.” Right? You see, brothers, I did it the right way, then the stories were all relieved from my mind. 

Going to the leading ones or going to the source is a better way than just passing it around. Even if you want to help the saints, you should take a firm stand. Just like if you want to get your dad saved, the best way is to make him mad at you. Because you love the Lord, not because you do wrong things. Many young people whose parents are not in the church, I’ll give you some advice—the stronger you are before the Lord, the faster they will be saved. The more you try to compromise, the harder it will be for them to be saved. I know what I’m talking about. Their conscience knows what is real. If they find out that after threatening you, you got defeated already, how could they know your Jesus is true? But if they find out after catching you, beating you, threatening you, knocking you down, and mocking you, that you would never change, then when they see you they will realize, “My son surely has something that is real.” They will know. Is that clear? When you take a firm stand for the Lord, the people will be saved.

The same thing even applies with gossip. When you take a firm stand, they will be enlightened. They will realize, “They’re serious, they are into something serious.” When you try to be nice, you just feed the flesh. 

Q: When you were talking about attaching yourself to some brothers, is it kind of a natural friendship? What is the difference between the attachment and the natural?

What is the difference between attaching yourself to the brothers and a natural friendship, right? The natural friendship is geared with your soul life. The attachment is burdened for the recovery. It’s just that simple. Someone you like to be with because you make the same cheesecake—that’s a natural friendship, right? Someone you are together with a lot because you pray, because you fellowship, because you fight, because you care for new ones together, because you care for each other, are concerned with each other’s growth—then that is a proper attachment. In attachment, there is friendship. 

Even the Lord called friends, right? Don’t look at this and think, “Friendship is wrong.” Even Lord says, “From now on, I call you my friends.” Something like this. Even we are friends of the Lord, so what’s wrong with friendship? Friendship without a goal, that’s wrong. Of course, the one you are attached with is easy to also have friendship with. I can testify today, Benjamin is my good friend. And I’m not condemned at all about it, I’m happy about it, I’ve got a good friend. This friend knows how to pray with me. I can fellowship with this friend. Here is another example: I called Benjamin and asked, “Should I go to Seattle?” He said, “Oh, go, go go.” See? I’ve got a good friend who can pray, who can fellowship, who can help me to discern spiritual things, who can help me learn how to follow the Lord.

I confess I always make mistakes. But the brothers I’m attached with always become my protection. I can say this to you brothers, in the presence of the Lord, just being here for two days, I feel very attached to these brothers. I believe I will check with you brothers a lot later. Why am I with you brothers? I received help! I received a life supply! Then naturally, there is attachment. Don’t be condemned and don’t divide it too much, “This is of soul, that is of spirit, five minutes soul talk, five minutes spirit talk.” Don’t be divided in that way. You’re going to go crazy. Just be simple. 

This is my realization. These brothers I’m attached to, it is natural. I just love them. I don’t like to analyze: friendship or no friendship. I’m happy with them and you sense that they are my friends. But only friendship without a goal, without a burden for the testimony, then that is not good. That is sugar. It doesn’t last very long. One day, when your cheesecake is more flavorful than hers, she will give you up. It doesn’t last. But the fellowship in the Lord, that attachment lasts. 

Q: Brother you spoke about, when you make mistakes and forget it, and to not have regret but repent. How do you suggest we keep from taking a route that we’ve taken over the last two years? We were told that early, that it was just a small mistake, but it damaged the recovery, and I’m burdened to know how to not go in a way like that, where we just take things so lightly, “Oh I made a mistake. Oh I spoke something not so clear.”

Let’s answer in two parts. First, we should be bold to make mistakes, and then forget about it. Goof it, and then forget it. We should go on and have no regrets. These mistakes, I use the word “goof,” they all come from the source of a spiritual burden. You see brothers, we are active people, all the church people are active. No one that is passive can be in the church life very long. Right? You know church people are very active, aggressive, positive, and we mean well. We love the Lord, we love the recovery. 

Therefore here, you have a John. John is active. This active John can exercise in two ways: one way is a ministry, one way is a work. One way, I call it a spiritual burden. One way is a burden for success. You see the difference? What is a spiritual burden? That means, you’re in the Lord’s presence. When the Lord’s presence covers you, you begin to have a realization from the Lord, and that becomes a spiritual constitution in you. That very constitution, you want to dispense to the church. That is a spiritual burden. When you go to the Lord, you enjoy the word, then when you enjoy the word, you go to the Lord, and the Lord begins to enlighten you. Through the enlightenment, something is constituted in you, and what has constituted, you want to dispense it out. This is the spiritual burden. 

The word “burden” is the same as “care,” right? Like the Lord Jesus said, “The care of the food of this life.” That means something occupies you. Burden means occupy. Now, if you are only burdened, but not spiritually burdened, then you are off. I’m burdened for Seattle! It may not be right, I don’t say it’s wrong. What are you burdened for? “I’m burdened for Seattle” is a good statement right? But what are you burdened for? It could be a spiritual burden. I’m burdened for the growth, I’m burdened for the new ones, I’m burdened for the services, I’m burdened for the functioning, I’m burdened for the enriching of the meetings, I’m burdened for the laboring on the word, I’m burdened for praying with saints. They all can be spiritual burdens. Or it could be a success. Did you know Seattle has less numbers than a certain church? Or that Seattle doesn’t have 700 yet? Therefore, I’m burdened for Seattle. This is a burden of success. You see, with us, whenever we come to the work, we would also be burdened, but for success. 

You know, there’s a wonderful word in the Bible, the word is “empowered.” That is in Ephesians 6. “Empowered with His might.” This “empower” is a peculiar word. This word in the root can be translated as “encargoed.” Do you know what “cargo” means? Encargoed. That means a cargo was with you. When you want to be empowered, you have to be encargoed. Don’t just be empowered without cargo. 

You know, all of Berkley is very burdened without cargo. What is the cargo there? You brothers cool off a little bit, listen, then think it over. What is the cargo in that meeting? I was in the meeting, I heard a little bit about it, I didn’t go in too much. But I realized one thing, I don’t believe there is cargo. The real burden must be cargoed. This is a peculiar way to come to the word, but it’s real. This “empowered,” if you read the Portugese translation, it’s “encargoed.” I got it because when I was giving a message on this in Brazil, I said, “Empowered is translated ‘engargoed’”. They said, “What’s engargoed?” Then I read their Bible, it’s “encargoed”! I was very happy. 

Power comes from cargo. If you really are burdened, your burden must have cargo within. Without cargo, I don’t trust any burden. I believe they’re just movement. Brother, I’ve been with you two days, I’m burdened. Lord cover me. I do have some cargo. I’m not just here saying, “Brother, repent!” Without cargo, that doesn’t work. If you are burdened, you first need to be cargoed. Enburdened, empowered, encargoed. Therefore, I’ll use the word “enburdened.” You need to be enburdened. That means, something burdens you to a place, you don’t know how to do it. You need to be enburdened spiritually. If you are not burdened spiritually, naturally you are in the work. Is this first part clear with you now? 

Brothers, suppose that we have 600, 700 here from these churches. Suppose just 50% of us are enburdened, or in other words, encargoed. Everyone has something substantiated from the Lord and exercised spiritually as a burden. What a prevailing church we would have. But today our problem is, we have no cargo to sell. We aim at success. What is this? This is Christianity. Our robbers have no cargo, what if he did? Start to rob universities. Right? Then you’d put a big advertisement in the newspaper, “From the heart of Nashville, center of a beautiful city, you have entertainment from your head to your toes.” No cargo to sell. 

Brother Lee never stirred anybody, but he always had a lot of cargo. He was never exhausted, it seems. Conference after conference, he always had more cargo, more cargo, more cargo. He was always encargoed. That’s why he was powerful. He was a useful member of the body. You know brothers, you all need to be enburdened. Can you take my word? If you want to be enburdened, take care of your cargo. Oh Lord Jesus. Would you please take my word? Take care of your cargo, pray, come to the Word, mean business, live a life that is legal, strict form of normal. Let yourself be encargoed, the more cargo you have, the more you will be burdened. And that burden is a healthy burden. Without cargo, it’s just a movement. If you aim at success, that is Christianity. And Christianity can totally damage the recovery. This is the first part of the sister’s question. What is the second? 

Question: “How do we avoid being taken away from this?” 

Then I just share with you what Brother Lee shared. Brother Lee shared three things. You may have heard already: That we need the life. Then we need the oneness. Then we need the truth. These three things cover just about everything. In my experience, I tell you, sometimes young people don’t quite know the truth. But in experience, you know the building. I tell you, anything that doesn’t agree with life, oneness, truth, or building, it’s something you shouldn’t take. 

Let me just give you a simple illustration. “The elders control.” This is a very simple statement. The elders control. Three words. These three words are what produce division of the oneness. Formerly the church in Seattle was all of Seattle, now the church has the elders as one group and those that are being controlled as another group. This doesn’t agree with the oneness. This very statement disagrees with the oneness. 

Then I’ll give you another illustration. “We should be where the action is.” This simple statement produces where the action is not. Again, it divides the oneness. You see, brothers, anything that takes us away from oneness, we should watch out for. Then anything that takes us away from the building, we should watch out for. The same principle is all from the truth, you know. But some young ones who don’t know the truth, but know the building—basically anything that makes you not able to have full fellowship with others, you should watch out for. 

For instance, supposedly you heard, “Titus is not in the flow.” Brothers, this means you and Titus cannot have full fellowship. This damages the building. You shouldn’t take it. “A certain church is most prevailing,” which means that the other church is not that prevailing. This kind of statement naturally damages the building, we cannot take it. Anything that damages oneness, we should drop; anything that damages the building or the truth, we should drop. Of course, anything that is not in life, we should drop. 

All the activities are a mob movement, it is not of life. It is of the mob. That means a lot of people jump together, that is not of life. Activities can be of life, don’t say activities are not of life. I could have a burden to invite somebody to my home for a meal without talking about Christ first. Then when I get acquainted with him more, then I’ll talk about Christ. That is the leading from the Lord, this is honest. But when I train every way like this, this is a way. This is dishonest, because it becomes a movement. Any movement is away from life. 

I tell you brother, if you take my words properly, even the so-called “revivals” can be apart from life. That is why among us, you just don’t see many revivals. In the recovery, being in this country since the 1960s, I haven’t seen one revival yet. And I’m not expecting many to come. Maybe one or two will come, at least I’m not expecting many to come. Why? Because the Lord realizes how easily we’re caught in the movement when revival comes. Therefore, the Lord preserves us, keeps us away from a lot of the movement. The movement is the principle against life. Just the three things: the life, the oneness, the truth. These are the lines for us to know whether it is serious or not. Anything that is against these three things, we cannot take.