This is Monday evening, October the 2nd, 1972,
in Richmond, Virginia.
Minister given to Brother Stephen Cohn.
And we have a word of prayer.
Our Heavenly Father, how we praise and thank
thee for gathering us together here unto the
name of thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
There is no name that is nobler, higher
than this name.
And to this name, Lord, we gladly bow
our knees and we gladly confess that Jesus
is Lord.
O Lord, we do desire that as we
gather together unto thyself, that thou wilt reveal
thyself to us.
As thou hast promised to thy disciples, thou
wilt manifest thyself to those who love thee.
We praise and we thank thee because thou
hast put a love in our hearts.
We do love thee and we do desire
that thou wilt manifest thyself tonight to us
in a new way, in a living way.
Lord, all that we need is thyself.
We want thee, Lord, more than anything else.
We commit ourselves to thee for this evening,
trusting thy Holy Spirit to open thy word
to us and lead us into thy truth,
that we may be unto the praise of
thy blessed name.
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Will you please turn to the book of
Acts, chapter 2.
We'll read from verse 37.
Acts, chapter 2, verse 37.
And to your children.
And to all who are a part of
as many as the Lord our God may
call.
And with many other words he testified and
exhorted them, saying, Be saved from this perverse
generation.
Those then who had accepted his word were
baptized, and there were added in that day
about three thousand souls.
And they persevered in the teaching and fellowship
of the apostles, in breaking of bread and
prayer.
And fear was upon every soul, and many
wonders and signs took place through the apostles'
means.
And all that believed were together, and had
all things common, and sold their possessions and
substance, and distributed them to all, according as
any one might have need.
And every day being constantly in the temple
with one accord, and breaking bread in house,
they received their food with gladness and simplicity
of heart, praising God and having favor with
all the people.
And the Lord added to the church daily
those that were to be saved.
Chapter 4, verse 32.
And the heart and soul of the multitude
of those that had believed were one.
And not one said that anything of what
he possessed was his own, but all things
were common to them.
And with great power did the apostles give
witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
And great grace was upon them all, for
neither was there anyone in want among them,
for as many as were owners of lands
or houses, selling them brought the price of
what was sold and laid it at the
feet of the apostles.
And distribution was made to each, according as
any one might have need.
That's all we'll read.
We mentioned in the very beginning that the
book of Acts is the continuation of the
gospel according to Luke.
Because it is the same man who is
used of God to give us these two
books in the New Testament.
In the gospel according to Luke, it is
the Lord Jesus began to do and to
speak.
But in the book of Acts, it is
the same Lord Jesus who continues to do.
We say the only difference is, in the
gospel according to Luke, it is the doing
and the speaking of our Lord Jesus in
his own person.
In that body that he has put upon
himself when he came to this world.
While in the book of Acts, he is
speaking and doing in a mystic, corporate body
of his.
It is very important, therefore, for us to
know this body.
That our Lord Jesus has been and is
using to continue his speaking and his doing.
And this body we all know.
The body of Christ.
The church of the living God.
In chapter one of the book of Acts,
we see the travail.
During those sixty days, between the resurrection of
our Lord Jesus and the Pentecost, you will
find there were sixty days.
And these sixty days can be roughly divided
into two parts.
Forty days and ten days.
During the forty days, the Lord Jesus appeared
to his disciples living.
And he taught them the things concerning the
kingdom of God.
Then, during the next ten days, a hundred
and twenty people, they gave themselves to continual
prayer, waiting upon the Lord for the promise
of the Father.
So we say that those sixty days were
very significant days.
We would like to call these days the
days of travail.
The Lord Jesus was traveling.
And his own people traveled with him.
For the bringing forth of something which is
most essential to his continued speaking and doing.
And we know that is the church, the
body.
And this morning we mentioned about the birth.
Again, we will emphasize that a congregation can
be organized.
But a church must be born.
So here you'll find on the day of
Pentecost, a tremendous thing happens.
We often are attracted to the spectacular, the
visible.
But we often overlook the essential, the unseen.
And very often you'll find the seen is
actually that which accompanies the unseen.
And it is the unseen that is the
reality.
So on the day of Pentecost, there was
the sound.
There was the sight of popping tongues as
a fire.
But what people have seen and heard actually
points to one thing.
And that is the exaltation of our Lord
Jesus.
Peter says that which you have seen and
heard proves one thing.
That God has made him the leader, Christ
and Lord over all.
The baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Give us two things.
One is the exaltation of the Lord, the
head.
The other is the forming of the body.
In one spirit we will baptize into one
body.
So dear brothers and sisters, on the day
of Pentecost, with the baptism in the Holy
Spirit, the Lord baptized his people into one
body, under one head.
And that is these hundred and twenty people.
When you look at them individually, may we
say they were all spiritual giants.
Every one of them was a spiritual giant.
There was no drop there.
And these hundred and twenty people were together
as a congregation.
Tremendous.
And yes, something more.
Every one of them had the indwelling Holy
Spirit.
Without the indwelling Holy Spirit, they were not
able to be together for ten days and
give themselves to continual prayer.
And yet there was something more that had
to be done.
Not only in each one of them, but
among them.
In between them.
And it is by the baptism in the
Holy Spirit, these hundred and twenty people were
baptized into one body of hundred.
This is the meaning of the baptism in
the Holy Spirit.
We are made one body.
Members one of another under the headship.
A living head with a living body.
And because the body is living, the head
is able to speak and to do through
that body.
And this is in order that we may
be living, functioning members.
Gifts are distributed.
Because we leave gifts, we may minister one
to another for the building up of the
body.
Now this evening we would like to go
a step further.
We have seen the cadet that brings in
the birth.
We have seen the birth of the body
and what it is.
The next thing naturally will be the life
or the life.
You know one thing we have to thank
the Lord.
And that is when you read the Bible
you find that God often shows us life
before we are given to Him.
God often demonstrates first before He instructs.
I think there is a definite advantage there.
Why?
Because if we are taught first, we will
try to manufacture it.
We are taught of something so let's go
and make it.
So God does not teach us first.
He demonstrates it first.
In other words, life before teaching.
That's the reason why you have the four
Gospels before the Book of Acts.
And you have the Book of Acts before
the Epistles.
In the Book of Acts you do not
have much teaching.
But you have demonstration of life.
In the Epistles you have the teaching which
explains.
So when you read the history of the
early church, what you see in the beginning
is a demonstration.
Here a body is born.
A church is born by the agency of
the Holy Spirit.
Now how does that body live?
How does that church function?
You don't see, but you do see lots
of demonstration.
A hundred, as we say these hundred people
had very good background.
They had a long history with the Lord.
Now for these hundred hundred people who have
such background and long history with the Lord,
after they were merged into one body, we
could expect a wonderful body life.
But you know, just as these hundred hundred
people were starting to live as one body
because they are one, three thousand were added.
That's a problem.
And these three thousand were not as matured
as we think.
Like the hundred hundred people.
Well, they were pious beings.
They knew the Old Testament, yes.
They might have some little contact with the
Lord while the Lord was on earth.
That's possible.
But if you compare the three thousand with
the hundred twenty, there was a great gap
in between.
Humanly speaking, the hundred twenty will say, now
wait a minute, you are not fit to
come in.
Let hundred twenty people, let us live that
body life because we were ready for it.
If you come in right away, you dilute
everything.
It will become very difficult.
You know how we all like to have
all those spiritual people being together and say
now you who are new, you are beginners,
wait, wait a while until you're more mature.
This is a college, this is not kindergarten.
But you know the wonderful thing is, in
the body there are big members, there are
small members.
In the family of God, there are fathers,
there are young people, and there are little
children.
So in the very beginning of the church
life, you find there were fathers, young people,
and lots of babies.
But the wonderful thing was that these babies
were very soundly born.
Even though they might hear the gospel for
the first time, what shall we do?
What shall we do?
They were tripping hard.
They didn't know what to do.
Peter and the eleven apostles said, now this
is what you should do, repent.
And give patience in the name of the
Lord.
And receive the gift.
And Peter used many words to exhort them
to be saved from the perverse generation and
those who receive his word.
The word receive I accept there means receive
in fullness.
Their accepting the Lord is a complete acceptance.
Receive.
They repented.
They were baptized.
They received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
They were saved from this world.
You'll find these three thousand became living members
of that list.
Very often we think those who are matured,
they could function.
But those who are newly saved, wait three
years before you open your mouth.
But here you'll find right away, here is
the body of Christ.
Immediately you'll find the old and the young,
the matured and the vague.
They merge together in the spirit in one
body.
Every member is living.
And every member is functioning.
They function but they all function.
So the Bible says they persevered in the
teaching and the fellowship of the apostles.
In breaking of bread.
The day here refers not just to the
hundred and twenty people.
The day here refers to a hundred and
twenty plus the three thousand.
In other words, the day here refers to
every.
They all persevered.
They all continued.
Step by step.
They all abode in the teaching and the
fellowship.
That's how they lived.
What is the teaching of
the apostles?
It's none other than the teach.
Because you remember our Lord Jesus, before he
ascended, in Matthew chapter twenty-eight, he said,
Go ye into all the world and make
disciples of the nation.
And baptize them in the name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
And whatever I have, I join you.
Teach.
The apostles teach the teaching.
And Paul says to the Corinthians, What I
have delivered to you is what I have
received.
It doesn't mean that the apostles can teach
what they like.
The apostles have their special teaching.
The apostles teach nothing but the teaching of
Christ.
In other words, the Lord Jesus teaches his
people through their apostles.
It is not the teaching of man.
It is the teaching of our Lord Jesus.
How did the apostles teach?
Their teaching does not come from man.
Their teaching does not come from the wisdom
of man.
Their teaching, that is the way of Paul.
When the apostles teach, they teach what they
receive from the Lord by love.
What they teach is what they themselves have
seen.
What they themselves have experienced.
Their teaching is not just their doctrines.
Their teaching is not just theories.
Their teachings are living words.
And because their teaching is, those who receive
their teaching do not receive as man's words,
but as the word of heaven.
Not just as some theories in their mind,
but they abide in the teaching.
In other words, they practice.
They experience.
The teaching of the apostles is the teaching
of Christ.
It is found in the Bible.
But it is breathed, quickened by the Holy
Spirit.
The ministry of the apostles is a living
ministry.
It's a ministration of Christ.
And because of that, their teaching is power.
And those who receive them, receive them in
the Spirit.
So it's working in their lives.
It is not something that comes from one
mind to another mind.
It is something from one spirit to another
spirit.
It is the impartation of Christ.
And the receiving.
And by that they bless.
That is the teaching.
And all these people persevere.
In other words, they continue.
They're fastly in their teaching.
But together with that, the fellowship.
Now what is the fellowship of apostles?
Do the apostles form an exclusive club called
the Apostles Fellowship?
The apostles join an exclusive club.
They join the exclusive club of the Father
and of the Son in the Holy Spirit.
You know, if you read the first epistle
of John, what did Apostle John say?
He said, what we have seen and heard
and touched and contemplated, we have reported to
you that you may have fellowship with us,
and our fellowship is with the Father and
with the Son.
And you remember in 1 Corinthians 1 verse
9, Paul said, we are called into the
fellowship of God's Son, Jesus Christ.
In other words, the fellowship of the apostles
is not a man-made fellowship.
The fellowship of the apostles is the fellowship
of God's Son, Jesus Christ.
And the fellowship of God's Son, Jesus Christ,
is the fellowship between the Father and the
Son in the Spirit.
Oh, that is the most exclusive club in
the whole universe.
The membership is very, very exclusive.
Just the Father and the Son in the
Spirit.
And what fellowship the Father and the Son
had in the Spirit.
That is real fellowship.
They share everything because they are one.
They are one in heart, they are one
in love, they are one in purpose, they
are one in everything.
No reservation, no drawback.
Open and free.
Committed one to another.
Perfectly, harmoniously, gloriously.
There is the fellowship.
No shadow, no darkness, no jealousy, no prejudice,
no fear.
Oh, the fellowship of the Son with the
Father in the Spirit.
But then the Father and the Son agree.
Let's enlarge our exclusivity.
Let's include man into our fellowship.
Let them share with us what He did.
That's why the Lord Jesus came to this
world.
He came to this world to seek marriage
to them.
He came to this world to open the
door of His fellowship with the Father.
And through His death and resurrection, He told
the disciples, the women, to tell the youth,
the disciples, now I go to my Father
and your Father, my God and your God.
The apostles were called into.
So here you'll find apostles joined that fellowship.
How did they join that fellowship?
Not by official means and ways.
They joined the fellowship through the Spirit.
God has put them in Christ.
And being Christ, they are in that fellowship.
There's the fellowship of the apostles.
Oh, their fellowship with the Lord Jesus.
Their fellowship with the Son.
Their fellowship with the Father in the Spirit.
And what a fellowship they had.
But then you remember our Lord Jesus in
John chapter 17.
I pray not only for them, but I
pray for those who believe me through their
words.
That they may be one as I and
the Father.
So you'll find that the apostles extend their
fellowship to us.
By preaching the gospel to us, we too
are being drawn into that fellowship of the
Father and the Son in the Spirit.
Now that is the fellowship of the apostles.
And the teaching of the apostles is not
another teaching, but the teaching of Christ.
The whole teaching of Christ in the Spirit.
So you'll find the fellowship of the apostles
is not a different fellowship, but it is
the fellowship of God.
Teaching refers to truth.
Fellowship refers to God.
On the one hand, we persevere in the
teaching of the apostles.
We receive all the truth that is in
Christ.
As Paul says in Ephesians, you have not
just learned the Christ.
If you have heard him and have learned
of him, you know the truth that is
in Jesus.
God's truth is in Christ.
Because only in Christ is there an amen.
That's the teaching of the apostles which we
have received.
But at the same time, there is a
fellowship.
A sharing.
A common participation.
A partnership.
A togetherness.
That is the fellowship.
The teaching that we persevere cannot be greater
or smaller than the teaching of the apostles.
The fellowship that we maintain should not be
bigger or smaller than the fellowship.
If we persevere in the teaching and the
fellowship of the apostles, we are living.
If we exceed it, or if we limit
it, we are not living in the body.
That is how the body lives in the
beginning.
The body lives in the teaching and the
fellowship.
We receive all the truth that is in
Christ.
Not just one or two.
Not just a few.
Not as many, many, many things in Christ.
But as delivered by the apostles.
And they have fellowship with one another in
the body.
The scoop of the fellowship is the scoop
of the body.
That is church life.
That is how it is.
And the teaching and the fellowship of the
apostles is especially demonstrated in the breaking of
bread.
And what is the breaking of bread?
On the night of his betrayal.
The Lord Jesus gathered his own around him.
And towards the end of the Passover feast
he took a loaf.
He blessed it.
He broke it.
He delivered it to his disciples and said,
All of you, this is my body broken
for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.
And afterwards he took the cup.
And he blessed it.
He passed it to the disciples and said,
This is the cup of the new covenant.
Share it.
Fill it with my blood.
For the remission of sin.
Do this in remembrance.
Sing that day.
The apostles.
Remember that.
Therefore you will find in the early church
they break bread.
Not just once a week.
Because in the breaking of bread it is
the fruit of their remembrance.
In other words, the breaking of bread in
the early church becomes a very symbol of
their life.
Their life is centered.
Their life is based completely on His blood
cleanses them.
His life.
They live because of Him.
And they express their love towards the Lord.
This is the teaching.
I remember.
Somebody will help us.
Some people ask me, What version of the
Bible do I use?
And sometimes I hesitate to mention it.
Because this is not a popular version.
It happens that I use a version called
New Translation by Darwin.
Now if you know anything about Darwin, you
know he lived in the 19th century in
England.
And he translated the Bible with some helpers
from Greek and Hebrew into German, into French,
and into English.
And when he was translating the Bible with
his helpers, do you know what they did?
They broke the bread every day.
The reason was when they were working, occupied
with the translation, it was lots of mental
work, you know.
And they were afraid by being so occupied
with mental work their heart might be drawn
away.
So they broke the bread every day in
order that their heart may be brought away.
I think that's it.
You know today sometimes we take this method
of communion as a formality.
Either you do that four times a year,
or you do that once a month, or
you even do that once a week.
But we usually take it more as a
ritual, a ceremony, a Christian ceremony, ritual or
sacrament.
But dear brothers and sisters, to the early
church, this is the way to express how
they persevere in the teaching and the fellowship.
This is the way they express their lives
were centered upon Christ.
This is the way to keep their hearts
in love.
This is the way to keep them always
in gratitude, in love.
So the early church, they persevere in the
teaching and fellowship of the apostles in the
grace of Christ.
This is the way.
Christ is the center of all the teachings.
Christ is the center of all their fellowship.
You know, if any teaching or doctrine is
not centered upon Christ, soon it will become
something opposed.
Whatever the teaching or doctrine is, however correct
it may be, if a fellowship is not
centered, it is a sharing
of Christ.
Fellowship is not just talking nonsense.
It's not just talking something.
It's not criticizing this one and that one.
Talking behind that one and this one's back.
Oh, this brother, that sister.
Well, we had a good fellowship because we
all agree that is a very bad system.
This is no fellowship.
This is not agonizing.
Fellowship is centered upon Christ.
It is the sharing of Christ.
So in the breaking of bread you'll find
there is a seed of their being.
As Zingzendorf once said, he said, I have
only one passion in this world, and that
passion, not only the breaking of bread,
no two things that Christians neglect very much
today.
One is the breaking of bread.
The other is prayer.
However you'll find in Christianity, somehow I don't
know.
Some people say, well, the breaking of bread,
once a week, that's too much.
So reduce it to once a month.
That's too much.
Reduce it to once in a season.
That's too much.
Reduce it to Easter and Christmas.
As if it is a minor thing.
And look at the prayer.
When a preacher is preaching, the place is
filled.
But when it comes to prayer meetings, like
the pharaohs at your door, just like this,
and some have no prayer meeting at all,
isn't that the truth?
They come together.
They do not come together in order to
be one.
But they are one, therefore they come together.
This togetherness is more than a physical, this
togetherness is a togetherness.
They know they are one.
They know they are related to one another.
They know they cannot live without the other.
They have.
Our dear brother Watchman, he once visited an
elderly brother.
The one who wrote Safety, Certainty and Enjoyment,
George Cutty.
You know, that is a wonderful booklet, Safety,
Certainty and Enjoyment.
Many, many people were helped by that little
booklet.
And when Jeremy went to England, he purposely
went to visit that elderly brother.
He was at that time in his nineties.
And his mind was not too clear at
that time.
He would wake up and very clear for
a few minutes and then he would again,
you know, go into a kind of semi
-tumor state.
So our brother went to visit him.
And when he came back he told us
one thing.
He said, when he visited that elderly brother,
he sat there and this brother woke up
and talked to Jeremy.
He said, he cannot do without me.
I cannot do.
I cannot do without him.
He cannot do without me.
Of course he is referring to the Lord.
We often say, well, we cannot do without
him.
But do we know he cannot do it?
This brother knows it.
So our brother said, it is true.
We cannot do without him.
He cannot do without me.
But neither can you do without me.
And I can do it.
How much are we conscious of the body?
How much do we really know?
As we cannot do without him, we have
to be together.
They have all things in common.
No one says, this is mine.
Everything is at the disposal of the God.
Are they forced to do that?
Is there any teaching that they should do
that?
They are so delivered from the spirit of
consciousness, of self-possessiveness, of self-interest.
They are so full of the love of
Christ.
They cannot say, you
know, there is a very strong urge in
our flesh.
And that is self.
We want to possess something.
We want to say, now this is mine.
You see that even in a little child.
Oh, this toy is mine.
You cannot touch it.
This is mine.
Self-possessiveness is a fallen instinct, it is
there.
Whether it is expressed in a big way
or in a small way, it is there.
It is the expression of individuality.
But when the grace of God has come
in such a way, when the love of
Christ has fulfilled them, they are completely delivered
from individualism, not from the individualistic.
They are still individuals in one sense.
They haven't lost their individuality.
That is what I mean.
They haven't lost their individuality.
Yet, they are delivered from individualism.
It is the body, the spirit of self
-possessiveness of God.
They are one.
They share everything.
Strictly speaking, you know, this is not communal
life.
People today in this country, there seems to
be a kind of mood among God's people.
Those whose hearts are touched by the Lord.
They are longing to live a communal life
or a community life.
Therefore you find in this country there are
lots of communal communes organized.
Lots of communal groups are organized.
Lots of so-called community, Christian community are
being organized.
Now brothers and sisters, do not misunderstand me.
Let me try to explain how, what is
in my heart.
On the one hand you'll find if the
love of Christ constrains us, we are a
community.
The church is a community.
We share everything one with another.
Selfishness is gone.
Everything is in common.
But remember, this is the whole church.
Not just a few special people organized into
a community or a commune.
I believe that the desire there is right.
For trying to organize into an exclusive commune
or an exclusive community life, this is what
the church ought to do, not just for
us.
I don't know if you understand me.
The desire is right.
But we must remember, it is not something
that you go out and organize.
It is not a teaching that you try
to copy.
It is the love of Christ within you
that gives you such a sense of body
consciousness that you learn.
With the brothers and sisters, as every sister
does, no one says, this is mine, as
a matter of fact.
Because there were so many poor people at
that time, many sold their property and lay
at the feet of apostles, let them speak
to each according to their needs.
But it all is voluntary.
It is not something that everyone has to
sell his property and business.
Even those who haven't sold, they open their
house.
Otherwise, if they all sell, sold their property,
the church has no place to meet.
So brothers and sisters, what I'm trying to
say is simply this.
It is not something organized.
It is not something manufactured.
It is spontaneous.
It is the expression of the love of
Christ in that, the consciousness.
And when you see that, you know that's
it.
You know, humanly speaking, there is always such
an aspiration.
Several years ago, I went to Israel.
I visited a few kibbutz, kibbutzes.
I was deeply impressed.
You know, all these kibbutzes were coming.
They came together, they lived together, they eat
together, they work together, you know.
They did not possess anything.
It all belonged to that kibbutz.
Naturally, seeing the division, the selfishness that was,
that is in mankind, the good self naturally
aspires to such things.
I mean, I was deeply impressed.
It is not a copy, an involuntary thing,
or even voluntary, but organized.
It is the work of the Holy Spirit.
As you go along, you will find how
true this is.
The apostles never, never said no.
Every one of you must sell your property
and give to the church.
Never.
Even Sapphira and Ananias, they sold their property,
hold back some and give the others to
the apostles.
The apostles said, when the property is in
your hand, it's yours.
Nobody forced you.
Even after you sold it, the money is
still yours.
But why do you deceive the Holy Spirit?
In other words, it is purely a matter
of the Holy Spirit.
He is the one who comes.
Brothers and sisters, that's the way they live.
That is the life of the church.
That is body life.
And then finally, they meet every day in
the temple, and they break bread in houses,
feeding their food with joy and thankfulness, praising
the Lord, getting favor with all the people,
and the Lord adds to the church.
That's it.
The church life is an assembling life.
They assemble together.
Now probably you'll say, now that's impossible without...
Yes.
But the principle is still there.
Do not forsake the assembling of.
Especially when we know his return.
How we need to come together to anchor
one another, even
though we may not be able to meet
every day, but we should meet as often,
because the very life of the church is
an assembling life, to worship the Lord, to
exhort one another, to build one another.
They praise God and found favor.
They do not offend the people.
Found favor with all the people.
They had a good testimony.
So brothers and sisters, when you read the
early chapters of the book of Acts, it
gives us some demonstration of the life in
the early days.
It is true.
The Spirit of God is living.
He does not try to uniform everything.
Because the early church is that way, therefore
let us copy it.
His ways are different everywhere.
But the principle...
So we are not talking about here is
effect, form.
Now, do it.
We are talking about the Holy Spirit has
shown us a path full of divine peace.
Let us be led by the Spirit into
trust.
You will find every place and yet at
the bottom side of hope
that the Lord will recover such life to
us today.
Our Heavenly Father, we do praise and thank
you for the demonstration of thy life in
the church.
Lord, thy life gives me.
May it be unhindered.
And by the quickening of the Holy Spirit
there may be expression coming forth spontaneously to
the praise and the glory.
Lord, we have shared these things.
Now it is up to you to work
it out.
We do not dare to stretch our arms
and try to organize anything.
But we just commit ourselves to thee for
what thy Spirit desires.
In the name of our Lord Jesus.