I.　The elders in a local church should be apt to teach the divine truths concerning God's eternal economy to the members of the church—1 Tim. 3:2; 5:17; 1:3-4:

A.　If a brother is to be an adequate elder, he needs to have the adequate knowledge of the truth; anyone who does not have the knowledge of the truth cannot take care of the church, God's flock, in an adequate way.

B.　Whether or not we have been divinely appointed to be an elder depends on how much we have been constituted with the divine knowledge of the basic New Testament truths:

1.　In Acts 20:28 there is a word concerning the divine appointment of the elders (overseers) by the Holy Spirit.

2.　To be an elder we must be appointed by the divine truth; the more we are constituted with the truths of the New Testament, the more we have been divinely appointed to be an elder.

3.　The one who is divinely appointed to the eldership is the one who knows at least a major part of the New Testament truths; this is his qualification and also his capital.

II.　Being constituted with the truth to carry out the New Testament ministry:

A.　In order to carry out the New Testament ministry for the building up of the Body of Christ, we must first be constituted with the New Testament ministry.

B.　If we mean business with the Lord and if we love the Lord for His recovery and love the recovery for the Lord, we must get ourselves constituted with this New Testament ministry.

C.　Our constitution should not be something gilded; it must be something wrought into our being—Rev. 17:4a; Col. 3:16; 1 Tim. 4:6.

D.　In order to preserve the recovery in the genuine oneness and in the central lane of God's eternal economy, the elders need an adequate knowledge of the truth.

E.　After getting into the New Testament ministry ourselves, we must find a proper way to help the saints to get solidly educated in the New Testament ministry.

III.　The need of the truth to build the church:

A.　As the house of the living God, the church needs life; as the pillar and base of the truth, the church also needs the solid, living truth—1?Tim. 3:15.

B.　The church needs the Spirit, but the Spirit depends on the Word; whenever we touch the Word, we get the Spirit—John 6:63; Eph. 6:17.

C.　History has shown that there is a desperate need of the living truth to produce the church, to help the church exist, and to build up the church.