“Bubbling” and Being Beside Ourselves in the Group Meetings
Verses:
1 Cor. 14:26 What then, brothers? Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.
Ministry Portion:
Group meetings in which the saints “bubble” are the proper church meetings and the proper church life. A group meeting is a meeting full of mutuality. In such a meeting everyone speaks, and everyone “bubbles.” Such meetings are full of activity. It is doubtful that the meetings of the thousands of new believers on the day of Pentecost kept a certain sequence, with a particular brother praying, another brother calling a hymn, and a designated brother reading the Scriptures. They simply “bubbled,” sang, and testified in their group meetings.
Many times if no one instructs the saints to begin to read the Bible, to pray, or to sing, no one will do it. We should not need to be instructed as to what to do in the meetings. We are living persons. We should come singing and praising. However, in many of today’s meetings, if no one says, “Let us read the Bible,” no one opens the Bible. That kind of meeting is still very much in the traditional way of religion. Many times our reading of the Bible in the meetings is done in a set way. It is of the flesh to do something with the purpose of being different from religion, but we do not need to be the same every time. If a certain verse is wonderful to us, we can read it in a living way. If in a long list of verses we find Hebrews 10:24-25, we can say, “Hallelujah for Hebrews 10:24-25!” and read it before we read the other verses. Then when we come to the phrase incite one another to love and good works, we can say, “Oh, incite! We need to incite one another!”
Our old way of meeting can be seen in the big meetings as well as in the group meetings. In a recent conference meeting there were seventeen hundred attendants, but the meeting still kept a fixed sequence. When the saints began coming together, no one declared the banners, read the Scripture references, or called a hymn. Sometimes most of the attendants in a meeting are quiet. This quietness is like the dumbness of idols (1 Cor. 12:2). Some may say that to shout “Hallelujah!” in the meetings is not the proper worship of God. However, God would rather that we be beside ourselves in the meetings than worship in a dead way.
The quiet way of meeting is the tradition of religion. Traditional Christianity has influenced us to meet in this way. Before we were saved, we already knew how to worship God in the traditional way. Even a Muslim knows how to meet in a “Christian” way. If a Muslim becomes a Christian, he will feel that he already knows the way he should worship as a Christian. However, the many new believers on the day of Pentecost had no idea how to meet. They knew how to meet in the Jewish way, but on that day they saw something that caused them to be beside themselves. They no longer cared for the Jewish things. Therefore, they met in their meetings in a “bubbling” way. Our meetings should be full of shouting, praising, singing, and speaking in a “bubbling” way. This is the way for Christians to meet. When we bring new believers to this kind of meeting, they will receive a proper impression of the way to meet, and they will never forget that impression. (The Practice of the Group Meetings, ch. 2, sec. 2)
The church in Zamboanga 