Chapter 3 from Young People’s Training, by Witness Lee
CONTACTING PEOPLE BY DEMONSTRATING THE SPIRIT
This chapter includes the following sections:
- CHRIST, NOT RELIGION, BEING ACCEPTABLE TO GOD
- THE ISSUE OF OUR EXPERIENCE OF CHRIST
- THE NEED FOR A VISION OF THE CHURCH
- THE MOST CRUCIAL POINT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
- WALKING ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT
- GOD’S MYSTERY REVEALED TO OUR SPIRIT
- DEMONSTRATING THE SPIRIT
- PAUL, AN EXAMPLE OF WALKING ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT
- THE WAY TO EXPERIENCE CHRIST FOR THE CHURCH LIFE
- PREACHING THE GOSPEL TO FULFILL GOD’S DESIRE
- CONTACTING PEOPLE IN A NORMAL WAY
- THE NEED TO HAVE A BURDEN
- GO PRAYING
- THE NEED FOR A LIVING, SENSITIVE SPIRIT
Some key verses are:
- Ephesians 3:8 To me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel
- 2 Timothy 4:22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.
- Romans 8:4 That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.
- Galatians 5:16 But I say, Walk by the Spirit and you shall by no means fulfill the lust of the flesh.
- Romans 8:16 The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.
- 1 Corinthians 2:4 And my speech and my proclamation were not in persuasive words of wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
- 2 Corinthians 2:13 I had no rest in my spirit, for I did not find Titus my brother; but taking leave of them, I went forth into Macedonia.
(All verses taken from the Recovery Version of the Holy Bible)
If you don’t have the book, then you can read this chapter on ministrybooks.org.
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2 thoughts on “Enjoyment from Young People’s Training, Chapter 3”
Part 1 (Dec 2018)
The Bible clearly reveals that God’s purpose is to work Christ into His chosen people so that they might be the members of His Body, which, in this age, is expressed in many localities. We must experience Christ for this, not in a doctrinal or theological way, but as the life-giving spirit mingled with our human spirit (1 Cor 15:45b, Gal 4:6).
God does not want religious people. To be religious is to be associated with the things of God, but without the experience of Christ. We need to be ones who daily experience Christ. Any worship we render to God that does not issue from the experience of Christ is rejected by God. We MUST have Christ, not in doctrine or teaching, but in experience.
The issue of our experience of Christ is the church life. We don’t receive the teachings of Christ, but the riches of Christ (Eph 3:8), and we can only share these through our experience of Christ. In verse 17, Paul says that the unsearchably rich Christ is making His home in our hearts. The church is the issue of the experience of Christ and comes out of the experience of Christ. Because Christ is making home in our hearts, we desire to have fellowship with other Christians and this spontaneously issues in the church life.
We need to have the vision of the church. The church is the expression of the Body of Christ expressed locally and in fellowship universally. We need to be built into the church. Once material has become a part of a building, it has been “wasted”. Once we have been built into the church, we have been wasted for any other purpose and are only useful for His building.
Christ is in our spirit as the embodiment of God (2 Tim 4:22). We should be ones who walk according to the spirit (Rom 8:4, Gal 5:16). In the Greek, this means to live, behave ourselves and have our being according to our spirit indwelt by Christ. We cannot fulfil the law except by the Spirit. This is the difference between religion and life. Only by living by this spirit can we be conformed to the image of the Son of God.
Part 2 (Jan 2019)
God’s hidden mystery is revealed to our spirit – not the mind! We cannot try to persuade people to receive the Lord, but we need to be ones enjoying the Lord in our spirit and overflowing to those around us. In this way, we will attract them to the Lord. We do not need to shout, but just be normal and human in an exercised way. Shouting “praise the Lord,” “amen,” and “turn from your mind to your spirit” will drive people away. We need to be approachable.
Paul and the other apostles constantly lived, walked, moved, worked, and spoke in their spirit. Because of this, they experienced Christ and had the proper church life. We need to take these ones as our pattern today. No matter where we are, we must be in our spirit. We need very little knowledge, but must be burning, zealous, boiling, and aggressive, not in our emotions, but in our spirit!
God planned for us to enjoy Him. We are not preaching Christ as knowledge on the campuses, but our burden must be to preach the gospel in order to bring people into a glorious vision, into the participation of Christ, and into God’s standard in the Church life. This is a sweet foretaste of the full taste to come in the New Jerusalem. When we contact people, we mustn’t try to be “holy,” “spiritual,” or “angelic,” but human. As humans living in and by our spirits, we will be approachable, but people will also recognise something different about us.
We need to pray for the burden for God’s up-to-date move on the campuses. The Lord will honour this burden. We must also pray individually and corporately, before, after, and during these times. As we contact people, we also need to have a sensitive spirit that is living, flexible, and capable. This will enable us to understand the person’s need and supply them. You must look to the Lord for the wisdom in this matter. You must exercise your spirit, not try to pass on doctrine. The proper way of contacting people is to be living in your spirit!
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