第一週 • 週二
晨興餧養
羅十二5 我們這許多人，在基督裏是一個身體，並且各個互相作肢體，也是如此。
林前十二12 就如身體是一個，卻有許多肢體，而且身體上一切的肢體雖多，仍是一個身體，基督也是這樣。
弟兄姊妹，如果神給我們一點亮光，能看見一點神的事實，我們就必須承認，神今天所要求的器皿，就是祂在當初所定規的器皿，就是祂的召會。換句話說，今天神所要求的器皿，不是個人的器皿，而是團體的器皿。如果今天神所要得着的器皿是團體的器皿，你就要看見，若不是神的兒女被神帶到一個地步看見甚麼是基督的身體，甚麼是身體的生命，在神手裏就沒有用處，就不能達到神的目的。
召會如果只是金的而已，就並不能滿足神的心。神為甚麼說召會是金的燈臺呢？因為金燈臺是發光的，是為着照亮的。神要召會作一個發光的器皿，見證的器皿。神在當初的時候，定規叫召會作燈臺。不是某人，乃是召會，召會在神面前就是燈臺。金的還不彀，出乎神的還不彀，必須為神發光，為神作見證，纔是金燈臺（倪柝聲文集第二輯第十七冊，一五九頁）。
信息選讀
神所要的器皿是團體的，所以我們要學習活出身體的生命。要活出身體的生命，就必須拒絕天然的生命，必須在神面前深深受對付，受審判，學習順服，學習交通，叫我們有機會作神的器皿（倪柝聲文集第二輯第十七冊，一六○頁）。
〔使徒行傳〕沒有結束，乃是敞口待加的。這必是因為聖靈藉着基督的信徒，傳揚基督，使基督得到繁殖、擴增並普及的工作，還沒有完畢，還需要很長一大段時間的繼續。這種使基督繁殖、擴增並普及的福音工作，乃是照着神新約的經綸，為神產生許多的兒子（羅八29），作基督的肢體，構成基督的身體（十二5），以完成神永遠的計畫，成全祂永遠的旨意。這是〔使徒行傳〕以後，二十一卷書信，和一卷啟示錄，所接着詳盡啟示的。基督這樣的繁殖、擴增所產生的召會，乃是神在基督裏得彰顯並掌權的範圍，所以就成為神的國。神的國乃是由神的生命，隨着基督的繁殖、擴增而生長出來並普及的。使徒行傳是基督的普及，也是神國的普及，因為神的國乃是基督的擴大。〔使徒行傳〕內所廣傳的福音，是以基督為福音（五42），是基督的福音，也是以神的國為福音（八12），也是神國的福音。這福音的傳揚，一直繼續向前，直到全地都成了基督的國（啟十一15）。
在四福音是神成為肉體、經過人生、死而復活，完成了基督，就是三一神的化身（西二9）。到使徒行傳是神這化身成為賜生命的靈（林前十五45），將基督普及到信祂的人裏面，也就是將經過種種過程的三一神，作到祂所揀選、救贖並變化的人裏面，使神藉着這些人所構成的召會得着彰顯，其終極結果乃是要來在永世裏的新耶路撒冷，作神完滿並永遠的彰顯。那也將是神永遠的國，作祂在永世裏，在祂的神聖生命中，掌權的範圍，直到永永遠遠。這該是今天一切福音傳揚的實際和目標（聖經恢復本，徒二八31註2）。
參讀：使徒行傳生命讀經，第五十五、七十至七十二篇；從天上來的異象，第六章。
WEEK 1 — DAY 2
Morning Nourishment
Rom. 12:5 So we who are many are one Body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
1 Cor. 12:12 For even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ.
Brothers and sisters, if God grants us light and if we see God’s truth, we will admit that God is after the same vessel today that He ordained at the beginning. This vessel is the church. In other words, God is not after an individual vessel today, but a corporate one. Since God is after a corporate vessel, His children must be brought to the awareness of the Body of Christ and the Body life. Otherwise, they are useless in His hand and can never fulfill His goal.
If the churches are just golden, they cannot satisfy God. God says that the churches are golden lampstands because golden lampstands shine and enlighten. God desires the church to be a shining vessel, a vessel of testimony. From the beginning God has ordained that the church be a lampstand. The church, not individuals, is a lampstand before the Lord. It is not enough just to be golden, and it is not enough just to be of God. There must be the shining for God and the testimony for Him before the church can be considered the lampstand. (CWWN, vol. 37, p. 123)
Today’s Reading
The vessel God is after is a corporate one. Therefore, we have to learn to live the Body life. In order to live the Body life, we have to deny the natural life and be judged and dealt with by God in a deep way. We must learn obedience, and we must also learn fellowship. (CWWN, vol. 37, p. 124)
[The book of Acts] was not actually ended; rather, it was left open that more may be added. The reason for this must have been that the work of the Holy Spirit in preaching Christ for His propagation, multiplication, and spread through the believers of Christ was not yet completed and needed to be continued for a long period of time. Such an evangelistic work for Christ’s propagation, multiplication, and spread is according to God’s New Testament economy for the producing of many sons for God (Rom. 8:29) that they might be the members of Christ to constitute His Body (12:5) for the carrying out of God’s eternal plan and the fulfillment of His eternal will. This is revealed in detail in the twenty-one Epistles and the book of Revelation, which follow this book. The church produced by Christ’s propagation and multiplication is the
sphere in which God is expressed and in which He reigns in Christ; hence, the church becomes the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God, along with Christ’s propagation and multiplication, grows out of and spreads from God’s life. Acts is a record of the spreading of Christ; it is also a record of the kingdom of God, because the kingdom of God is the expansion of Christ. The gospel that is widely preached in this book is the very Christ as the gospel (5:42), the gospel of Christ, and it is also the kingdom of God as the gospel (8:12), the gospel of the kingdom of God. The preaching of such a gospel will continue and advance until the whole earth becomes the kingdom of Christ (Rev. 11:15).
In the four Gospels God was incarnated, passed through human living, died, and resurrected, thus completing Christ, the embodiment of the Triune God (Col. 2:9). In Acts this embodiment of God, as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45), spreads Christ into His believers, i.e., works the processed Triune God into His chosen, redeemed, and transformed people to make them the constituents of the church, through which God may be expressed. The ultimate issue of the church will be the New Jerusalem in eternity future as God’s full and eternal expression, which will also be God’s eternal kingdom as the sphere in which He reigns in His divine life in eternity forever and
ever. This should be the reality and goal of all gospel preaching today. (Lifestudy of Acts, 2nd ed., pp. 605-606)
Further Reading: Life-study of Acts, msgs. 55, 70—72; CWWL, 1965, vol. 3, “The Heavenly Vision,” ch. 6
