Gen 12:8 And he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent...and there he built an altar to Jehovah and called upon the name of Jehovah. 1 Pet 2:5 You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house...
[Part 1 of 3] The name Bethel in the original language means "the house of God." God is not after hundreds and thousands of strong, but uncoordinated, men like Samson, and He is not after a pile of unorganized, living stones. God's intention is to build a temple- the house of God. God wants to raise up a vessel to fulfill His purpose. Such a vessel must be His house. A few particularly gifted gospel preachers will not fulfill such a purpose, nor will a few capable revivalists do the job. All the powerful ones must become God's house and the Body of Christ before they can become useful. God has to deliver us from all forms of individualism. God has not saved us only to be proper Christians, but to be God's house and one Body together with all His children. God's house is not only a principle, but a life. The problem is that many Christians consider the Body of Christ merely as a principle; they have not seen the life of the Body of Christ. We think that we should cooperate with one another in everything, and we often reluctantly agree to cooperate, but our heart has no taste for it. What is the use of doing such a thing? We have to remember that the Body is a life and not merely a principle. If we do not know that the Body is a life, and if we merely act according to a principle, we are only imitating in an outward way. [continued tomorrow]
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Watchman Nee, The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 1993, pp. 33. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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