This week we will continue with The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups for the God-ordained way reading schedule for the churches in Anaheim, Cypress, and Orange. Detailed information including the full reading schedule is available at churchinanaheim.org/gowreading/.
This week we will be reading The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Chapters 9 and 10. This book is available for purchase from Living Stream Ministry. You can also read it online at ministrybooks.org. (Please note: Because the Introductory Word is counted as a chapter on ministrybooks.org, Chapters 9 and 10 are listed as chapters 10 and 11 there.)
The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups Chapter 9 is on having a little power and having constant contacts with people. In Revelation 3:8 the church in Philadelphia had a “little power”. It is a comfort to know that the Lord appreciated the church in Philadelphia and opened the door which no one could shut, because they had a little power, kept the Lord’s word, and did not deny His name. Many of us have had a start in the vital groups to varying degrees, but we should not be contented or satisfied with what we have started. In these days we must stress one thing: to contact people. We need to labor in the gospel with endurance, thinking in the way of having something constant. We should try our best to always keep four or five new ones under our care. We must learn to go and contact people through prayer, in prayer, and with prayer all the time. First Corinthians 15:58 says that our labor in Christ will never be in vain.
Chapter 10 is on our need to rise up and take action. We have to learn to take action, to work, to labor, in faith, not by our feelings. Also, when we take action, we should not do anything by trusting in ourselves. In taking action, we should not forget that the main thing is to contact people and sow the seed of Christ into them in a spirit of prayer. The more that we do, the more we will learn.
Prayer from p. 93: “Lord, thank You. Since I heard the messages on the vital groups, I have started, Lord by Your mercy, to repent and confess. Yet dear Lord, You know that my repentance needs to be improved, my confession needs to grow, and my whole practice in the vital groups needs to mature. I look to You to take me on.”
Quote from p. 95: “I hope we all will have a resolution in the depths of our heart to contact people through prayer, with prayer, and in prayer and to make each one of our contacts a constant one.”
Quote from p. 106: “In order to live a normal Christian life, three things are very much needed: 1) seeking after the Lord; 2) coming to the meetings; and 3) going to contact people.”
Week 14: July 8th through July 14th
If you have any questions or comments contact us at: gowreading@gmail.com.