Crystallization-Study of 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther
Message Ten
The Central and Crucial Point of the Recovery Books of Ezra and Nehemiah—
the Proper and Adequate Leadership
in the Lord’s Recovery
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Matt. 20:25-28…The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant, and hoever wants to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.
Acts 26:19 Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.
Word of Appetizer
In God’s eternal economy and in the Lord’s recovery, what the leadership depends upon?
In God’s eternal economy and in the Lord’s recovery, leadership depends upon spiritual capacity; the leadership is not official, permanent, organizational, or hierarchical. The Lord’s concept of leadership is the opposite of the natural concept; among God’s people there is actually no leadership in the natural sense; according to the New Testament, the authority of the apostles is spiritual and is in their ministry of the word; the leadership in the New Testament ministry is in the New Testament teaching more than in the leading ones of the New Testament ministry themselves.
Spiritual Burden
The leadership in the New Testament ministry is the leadership of the controlling vision of God’s eternal economy, not the leadership of a controlling person; the apostle Paul declared, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision”; this vision must be renewed in us day by day to be the controlling vision of all our life, work, and activity; the leadership in the Lord’s recovery is the leadership of the God-given vision of God’s eternal economy that restricts us, directs us, and controls us so that confusion and division are avoided.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
In God’s eternal economy and in the Lord’s recovery, leadership depends upon spiritual capacity; the leadership is not official, permanent, organizational, or hierarchical.
The leadership in the New Testament ministry is the leadership of the controlling vision of God’s eternal economy, not the leadership of a controlling person; the apostle Paul declared, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision”.
The central and crucial point of the recovery books of Ezra and Nehemiah is the proper and adequate leadership.
The Experience of Life
For a person to leave the Lord’s recovery means that he has never seen what the Lord’s recovery is; if we have not seen a vision of the Lord’s recovery, we actually are not in the Lord’s recovery.
The proper representation of the Body is always by those who are matched with others; to be alone is to be individualistic, but to be sent forth with another is to be sent according to the principle of the Body; to act individualistically is to violate the principle of the Body.
Practice and Application
We in the Lord’s recovery must have a clear vision of God’s eternal economy and then be governed, controlled, and directed by this vision, for we are here to carry out God’s eternal economy in His recovery. This vision must be renewed in us day by day to be the controlling vision of all our life, work, and activity.
We need to be “shown mercy by the Lord to be faithful” (7:25b; 1 Tim. 1:12) so that we may be faithful slaves, who habitually give the household of God spiritual food, ministering the word of God and Christ as the life supply to the believers in the church.
PROPHESYING TO PICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1 The Lord’s concept of leadership is the opposite of the natural concept (Matt. 20:25-27)
(Please illustrate in
God’s New Testament economy, leadership means slavery.)
T2 Leadership depends upon
spiritual capacity; the one with the greatest capacity is the leader (Acts 13:2; 14:12; Gal. 2:14)
(Please illustrate that the leadership among God’s children
is not official, permanent, or organizational.)
Day 2
T1 The authority of apostles is spiritual and is
in their ministry of the word (Acts 2:42; 2 Cor. 13:5-6)
(Please illustrate that the apostles have no
authority in themselves to control the churches. Only the word ministered by them has authority.)
T2 A leadership is shaped by the growth in life and is an issue of the need (Acts 1:17; 2 Cor. 4:1)
(Please illustrate that in the New Testament there is only one ministry and only one leadership
in the ministry.)
Day 3
T1 Authority always follows the proper speaking (1 Cor. 4:17b; 2 Thes. 6, 9, 14)
(Please illustrate that God’s delegated authority was in the teaching of the leading ones.)
T2 The first twelve apostles were appointed by the Lord Jesus, but they were not organized (2 Cor. 13:10; 1 Cor. 4:17)
(Please illustrate that the leadership that is shown in the New Testament is mainly in the teachings of the ministers, not in the acts of co-workers.)
Day 4
T1 Our preaching and our teaching have to be restricted by the revelation of God’s New Testament economy (Acts 26:19; Eph. 3:3-4)
(Please illustrate that we are absolutely not following a man; rather, we are following a vision, God’s consummate vision.)
T2 The revelation in the Lord’s recovery controls us and restricts us (1 Tim. 1:3; Acts 26:19)
(Please illustrate that the leadership is not the leadership of any single person who is controlling people in the Lord’s recovery.)
Day 5
T1 The Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the oneness of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:3-4; Col. 3:11; Eph. 4:16)
(Please illustrate what three main items the Lord’s recovery is recovering.)
T2 The central and crucial point of the book of Nehemiah, is the matter of proper, adequate leadership (Neh. 8:8-10; 1 Tim. 3:15)
(Please illustrate that Nehemiah was the perfect leader, the best leader in human history and the best example of what an elder should be.)
Day 6
T1 When the Lord Jesus sent out His disciples, He sent them out two by two, in the principle of two as a testimony (Luke 1:1; 1 Cor. 1:1)
(Please illustrate that this principle of matching applies today.)
T2 To act individualistically in the Lord’s service is not according to the divine principle (Rom. 12:5)
(Please illustrate that the Lord will often arrange a difficult match for us. But such a match is actually a great help.)