I have touched you with the pricks, with the goads. You know, a goad is an instrument with a sharp point. The farmer uses the goad just to touch the animal when the animal wants to go astray instead of straight—not for hurting, but to remind him who is the master.
And you know, Saul kicked against the goads. So the Lord said, “It is hard for you to kick against the goads. You will be hurt if you continue that.”
And Saul said, “Lord, who are You?”
“I am Jesus, whom you persecute.”
So he capitulated and said, “Lord, what shall I do?” In other words, he surrendered his life to the risen Lord.
What did he see? What is the heavenly vision that he is talking about?
He saw the Head—Christ, the Head in heaven. He saw the body of Christ all over this earth: one.
So, “Why do you persecute Me?” Saul did not argue and say, “Lord, when did I persecute You? You are in heaven. I cannot touch You. I have not done it.”
No, he understood. He understood that when he touched God’s people in Jerusalem, he touched the Head, Christ. When he touched God’s people in Judea, he touched the Head.
As he was going to Damascus to touch the believers there, he was touching the Body. Brothers and sisters, what a picture! He saw the vision of Christ, the Head, high above all; and he saw the body of Christ covering the whole earth.
Brothers and sisters, that is the heavenly vision Paul saw, and he was never disobedient to that vision.
If you see this vision, it gives you the center. The center of God’s Word is Christ, and with Him, the church, His bride.
It gives you the outline of the sound Word. You will find everything in the Scripture centers upon Christ. Every truth comes out of Christ, touching the church. That is the circumference.
I remember many years ago, dear Brother Watchman told us, “If you see Christ and the church—really see Christ and the church—the whole Bible is open to you.”
How true it is. So, brothers and sisters, we need to go to the Lord and ask Him to reveal Christ and the church to us. And if we have that vision, you will find that all these odd pieces fit together.
The first absolute need for the ministry of God’s Word: know the sacred Scriptures.
You know, Paul, in his letter to Timothy, said, “Timothy, you are well acquainted—you know the sacred Scriptures from your childhood.” In other words, he was brought up with the Word of God.
To minister the Word, you need to know the Word. That is evident.
Unfortunately, today you find many pockets where you really do not need to know the Word, because you are not talking about the Word. You are talking about social or political problems. If you know the world, that is enough.
But if you really want to minister the Word, you have to know the Word. You have to read it. You have to memorize it. You have to meditate on it. You have to seek the Lord about it. You have to allow the Word to work in your life.
You have to be convicted by the Word. You have to be enlarged by the Word, uplifted by the Word. You weep over the Word. You laugh over the Word. Brothers and sisters, you need to be acquainted with the Word of God.
When I first came to this country, I discovered one thing among the Christians in this country. I hope I am wrong. I discovered that Christians in this country know a lot, but all they know came by hearing, not by reading.
They hear a lot, but they do not read the Word a lot. And because of this, they can easily be deceived. There is no sure foundation, no solid foundation.
Brothers and sisters, for all believers, we need to have a solid foundation in the Word of God. You read a lot about the Word of God, but you do not read the Word of God as you should.
You read lots of commentaries, lots of books about the Bible. But how about the Bible itself?
I am not against commentaries. I am not against these books; I have written some.
But there is a temptation, because these books, these commentaries, are digested food. Therefore, they are easy to accept. The Word of God as it is is almost like solid food: you have to learn how to digest it. And I understand that. That is why you go for these books instead of the Book.
But, brothers and sisters, if you do not know the Book, I would rather you did not read these books. If it puts my publishers out of business, thank God, because it is not a business; it is a ministry.
Anyway, we need to know the Word of God, apply ourselves to God’s Word, and store the Word of God richly in our hearts.
Not just know it mentally, but really touch it. As you touch the Word of God, you touch the living Word; you touch Christ. You have to read it that way.
Now, if there is a rich store of the Word of God within you, then you find the Holy Spirit has an instrument in you that He can use for His work. So the Bible says, “The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit.”
You know, the Word of God is like a sword. It cuts like a two-edged sword. It penetrates; it divides the soul and the spirit. But, dear brothers and sisters, who is the One who uses this sword? The Holy Spirit.
He will use His Word to touch people, not you and me. Today, we use the Word of God to cut people down—not only in preaching, but in praying too.
But if we touch the Word of God in a living way, then we allow the Holy Spirit to use the Word of God to touch people’s consciences and to do the work. So I think this is evident. We do not need to labor over it: those who minister the Word need to know the Word. They need to really read the Word.
Those who minister the Word need revelation. By revelation, we do not mean that you need to receive some revelation extra to the Scripture. No.
Some people today confess, they proclaim, that they receive new revelations that you cannot find in the Word of God. That is heresy. That needs to be rejected.
All the revelation of God—all that God wants to reveal about His own Son and His beloved church—is here in this Book. There is no extra revelation. This faith was completed at the end of the first century, once delivered to the saints.
But it does not mean that today we do not need revelation. The Apostle Paul prayed for the saints in Ephesus that God would give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation unto the full knowledge of God.
We need revelation. What is it? It simply means this: the Holy Spirit, who breathed the Word—the Word of God is God-breathed—and the Word came forth.
So once you find the Spirit of God breathed and resulted in the Word we have in our hands. This is logos, the truth, eternal truth, never changing.
But as we approach the logos, these are letters to us. But when we read them with a humble spirit, looking to the Spirit of God to interpret them to us, one day, when you read it, the Holy Spirit breathes again upon the Word that was breathed.
Suddenly, they become alive to you. It touches your heart. It becomes real to you. It is a personal word—not a word that was written thousands of years ago, but a word now; not a word that is general, but a word to you. We call it rhema.
In John 6, the Lord said:
The words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life.
The word there is rhema: the word that I am speaking to you now is spirit and life.
When you receive that rhema, that revelation, it becomes life to you and spirit to you. That is what you need. And only with this rhema are you able to help people.
So, brothers and sisters, those who minister the Word of God need to ask the Lord to give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation. That is what you need.
You need experience. To minister the Word of God is not just lecturing, just expounding and analyzing God’s Word. It is imparting life. It is imparting Christ. Therefore, you need experience. You need to experience Christ.
And that is the reason why those who minister the Word of God, God will arrange them and put them in so many circumstances. It is strange, you know.
Those whom God wants to use to minister His Word, God will put them in strange circumstances—circumstances in which you really do not think you need to be. But He puts you there in order that you may learn Him, experience Him, and out of your experience of Him, you are able to minister Him to other people.
David is a typical example. God took David into so many varied and different situations in order that he might learn God. And out of his learning, he wrote these songs. People love the Psalms. Why? They are life experiences. They are real.
So, brothers and sisters, in ministering the Word of God, we need experience. It is true: sometimes God allows us to speak beyond our experience to stretch us. But speaking with experience is different. It is different.
Well, the question may be raised: if the ministry of God’s Word is so difficult, who can do it? Who will? Who is competent? No one dares.
People who dare are people who should not. People who sense their incompetence, and yet are constrained by the love of Christ, they have to do it. They have to suffer for it.
The standard is high. God never lowers His standard, because the Word of God is God Himself. It is by His Word that His work is done. Therefore, He will never lower His standard.
To minister the Word of God universally and to minister the Word of God locally are no different—no different.
But thank God. In Philippians 3, he says:
If in anything ye are otherwise minded, even this shall God reveal unto you:
Only, whereunto we have attained, by that same rule let us walk.
So, brothers and sisters, even though we are not able to enter into this ministry like Paul, or even like Timothy, step by step, step by step. Whatever God has already led you into, just do it within your measure. Do not do it beyond your measure.
But as you are faithful in your small measure, God will increase that measure. That is why we say it seems as if ministering the Word of God universally always begins with ministering the Word of God locally.
Maybe in the beginning, it is just at a time of Bible study or fellowship time. Maybe the Lord gives you something of His Word, and you use one or two minutes to share what the Lord has given to you.
And gradually, gradually, you will find that you are able, perhaps, to minister the Word of God in a small group for five minutes, or even extend to ten minutes. And maybe gradually you will find that the Lord again increases your measure. You are able to minister to the people with whom you are, maybe thirty, maybe a hundred, and you are able to share with them for half an hour or an hour.
And people are really helped; the anointing of the Lord is with you. Gradually develop, step by step, step by step. So do not be discouraged.
But the standard cannot be lowered. Our mind has to be set on the standard that God has set. Only by this are we able to grow, just like Paul’s testimony: “Give thyself wholly to them, that thy progress may be manifest unto all.”
So, brothers and sisters, take heart in your local assemblies. If you really love the Lord and love His church, and you want to see His church built up, apply yourself to the Word of God. And if the Lord begins to open up something to you, share it with your brothers and sisters.
And at the same time, be humble enough to be corrected, or even to be discouraged. If it does not help people, then you need to be discouraged a little bit. But do not be discouraged. At the very beginning, try again. You know, after several trials, then it becomes clearer.
And may the Lord raise up, in the local assemblies where you are, some who are really able to minister the Word of God in a way that will build up the church.
And that is, I believe, what the Lord desires from us. Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, we have been sharing together on this matter of government and the ministry in the local assemblies. We have to confess that, no matter how we talk, it does seem to hide Thy will rather than open Thy will. For this, we ask forgiveness.
We pray, Lord, that Thy Holy Spirit will take what is Thine and speak to our hearts. Give us a right understanding of government, a right understanding of the ministry of the Word.
And raise up people who are able to be in the place of government and in the place of ministry. Lord, we cry unto Thee for the love of Thy church. Grant our prayer. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
For those who can stay a few minutes, we would like to have a few minutes of prayer.