第一週 • 週四
晨興餧養
約一12~13 凡接受祂的，就是信入祂名的人，祂就賜他們權柄，成為神的兒女。這等人…乃是從神生的。
羅十二3 …不要看自己過於所當看的，乃要照着神所分給各人信心的度量，看得清明適度。
『信徒』這名稱，標明他們是照着神新約信仰的經綸，〔信入〕基督是神兒子的人。…任何對基督沒有信，〔沒有信入〕基督的人，必然不是信徒。
信徒是那些接受基督作他們生產的生命，使他們成為神兒女的人。〔信入〕基督等於接受祂。我們〔信入〕基督，就是接受祂。我們藉着〔信入〕祂而接受祂（新約總論第五冊，八三、八八頁）。
信息選讀
我們乃是神重生的新造，在基督的神聖生命裏與祂聯結，與祂聯合成為一靈（林後五17，林前六17）。我們不僅是在舊造裏出生的人。我們已經生過兩次。第一次是從父母所生而成為舊造。我們出生為天然的人，但有一天我們重生了。我們的出生證明是重要的正式檔，記載我們肉身出生的日期。我們的第二張出生證明，就是我們屬靈出生的出生證明，乃是在羅馬八章十六節，那裏說，『那靈自己同我們的靈見證我們是神的兒女。』我們的出生證明乃是一個雙重的靈，就是那靈同我們的靈（李常受文集一九九四至一九九七年第五冊，一二一頁）。
按照羅馬十章十七節，信來自聽見話。因此，信的源頭乃是話，…話有三方面：首先有神寫出來的話—聖經（約十35）；然後有神活的話—基督（一1）；最後有神應用的話—那靈（弗六17，約六63）。
聖經是寫出來的話，基督是活的話。然而，若沒有那靈，活的話就不能應用在我們身上。藉着那靈，活的話成了應用的話。神只有一種話。首先祂說話，而祂所說的寫在一本書上，那就是聖經。
我們有這樣的話，但真正從這話得着益處的人並不多。這就是為甚麼我們必須讀或聽聖經。每一週我們聚集在一起好幾次，就是要來讀、講、聽聖經的話。當聖經的話講給我們聽的時候，寫出來的話立即就成了活的話。那就是基督。當活的話應用在我們身上，被我們得着的時候，就成了那靈的話。然後我們所聽見那靈的話，就成了我們信的源頭。信是來自聽見這出於寫成的聖經，藉着活的基督，並憑着那靈所應用的話。
如果你以為自己在信心的度量上比保羅更大，你就太狂妄了，你的心思不是清明適度的〔羅十二3〕。如果你真是清明適度，你會說，『保羅弟兄是一座大山，我只不過是一塊小石頭。』…不清明適度，而看自己過於所當看的，就是抹煞身體生活中正確的等次。
保羅在羅馬十二章說到身體生活的實行。…神不僅分給我們信心，也照着我們的度量分給我們信心。祂給我們的信心，在質上是同樣的，在量上卻是不同的。量的多少乃在於你如何長大。如果你今天像使徒保羅一樣長大，你所接受那一分的信心就要大大的擴充。神先是在質的一面分給我們信心，然後在量的一面分給我們不同的度量。你所得的是何種的信心，乃在於神的分給（李常受文集一九九四至一九九七年第一冊，三五一至三五二、三八五頁）。
參讀：對同工長老們以及愛主尋求主者愛心的話，第二章；加拉太書生命讀經，第十四篇。
WEEK 1 — DAY 4
Morning Nourishment
John 1:12-13 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name, who were begotten…of God.
Rom. 12:3 …Not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith.
The designation believers designates those who have believed in [to] Christ as the Son of God according to God’s New Testament economy… Anyone who does not have faith in Christ, who does not believe in [to] Christ, is certainly not a believer.
The believers are those who have received Christ as their generating life for them to become the children of God. Believing into Christ equals receiving Him. When we believe into Christ, we receive Him. We receive Him by believing into Him. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1133, 1137)
Todays Reading
We are God’s regenerated new creation, united with Christ in His divine life, joined to Christ as one spirit (2 Cor. 5:17; 1 Cor. 6:17). We are not merely generated persons in the old creation. We have been generated twice. The first time was by our parents to be the old creation. We were generated to be the natural man, but one day we were regenerated. Our birth certificate is an important and official document that records the date of our physical birth. Our second birth certificate of our spiritual birth is seen in Romans 8:16, which says that the Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God. Our birth certificate is a double spirit, the Spirit with our spirit. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” p. 88)
According to Romans 10:17, faith comes out of the hearing of the word. Thus, the source of faith is the word…There are three aspects of the word. First, there is the written word of God—the Bible (John 10:35). Then there is the living word of God—Christ (1:1). Finally, there is the applied word of God—the Spirit (Eph. 6:17; John 6:63).
The Bible is the written word, and Christ is the living word. Without the Spirit, however, the living word cannot be applied to us. The living word becomes the applied word through the Spirit. God has only one kind of word. First, He spoke, and what He spoke was written in a book. That is the Bible.
We have such a word, but not many have really been benefited by this word. This is why we have to either read or hear the Bible. Every week we gather together a number of times just to read, speak, and hear the word. When the word of the Bible is spoken to us and heard by us, right away the written word becomes the living word. That is Christ. When the living word is applied to us and received by us, it becomes the word of the Spirit. Then this word of the Spirit heard by us is the source of our faith. Faith comes from the hearing of this applied word by the Spirit through the living Christ out of the written Bible. If you think you are bigger than Paul in the quantity of faith, you are crazy. You are not sober-minded [Rom. 12:3]. If you are really sober-minded, you
will say, “Brother Paul was a big mountain. I am just a small stone.”…To think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think without a sober mind is to annul the proper order of the Body life.
In Romans 12 Paul deals with the practice of the Body life…God has not only allotted but also apportioned faith to us. He gave us the same faith in quality but not in quantity. The matter of quantity depends upon how you grow. If you grow today as the apostle Paul grew, the portion of faith you receive will be greatly enlarged. God first allotted faith to us in quality, and then He apportioned it in quantity. What kind of faith you have depends upon God’s allotment. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 286-287, 311-312)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “A Word of Love to the Co-workers, Elders, Lovers, and Seekers of the Lord,” ch. 2; Life-study of Galatians, msg. 14
