I.　"Do not take for granted that because you are now in the Lord's recovery, you are secure in the recovery and that it is not possible for you ever to be divisive. Whether or not we are secure in the recovery and protected from divisiveness depends on the vision we have seen" (Life-study of First Corinthians, p. 54).

II.　The Lord's recovery today is the recovery of the central vision of Paul's completing ministry—Acts 26:13-19; Col. 1:25; Eph. 5:32:

A.　Paul was obedient not to a doctrine, a theory, a religious creed, or any theology but to a heavenly vision—Acts 26:19:

1.　In this vision Paul saw the divine things concerning the dispensing of the Triune God into His chosen, redeemed, and transformed people.

2.　Paul's preaching in Acts and his writing in his Epistles are a detailed description of the heavenly vision seen by him—v. 16; 22:15; Eph. 3:3-6.

B.　Paul's ministry was a completing ministry—Col. 1:25:

1.　In the New Testament the apostles, especially the apostle Paul, completed the word of God, the divine revelation, regarding God as our content, Christ as the mystery of God, and the church as the mystery of Christ, thereby giving us a full revelation of God's economy— 2 Cor. 4:7; Col. 2:2; Eph. 3:4.

2.　Without Paul's completing ministry there is no way for Christ's heavenly ministry to be carried out, and without Christ's heavenly ministry Paul's ministry would have no ground—Heb. 7:26; 9:24; Acts 20:24; 2 Cor. 4:1:

a.　These two ministries work together—the one in the heavens and the other within us—Heb. 8:2; Col. 1:25-27.

b.　Paul's ministry reflected what Christ was ministering in the heavens.

3.　The goal of the Lord's recovery is the completion of the word of God; without the completion of the word of God, God's purpose cannot be fulfilled, and Christ cannot obtain His bride for His kingdom—Eph. 3:10-11; Rev. 19:7-9.

C.　In Paul's ministry, the completing ministry, there is a central vision:

1.　This is the vision that Christ, the expression of God, has become the life-giving Spirit so that He may impart Himself into us as our life to make us living members of His Body to express Him organically—1 Cor. 15:45b:

a.　In His recovery the Lord is seeking to recover the all-inclusive Christ who imparts Himself into the believers and makes them His living Body—Rom. 8:10; 12:4-5; Eph. 3:17a; 4:16.

b.　The Lord is recovering Christ as life and everything to us and the church as His Body, His fullness—Col. 3:4, 11, 16; 2:19.

c.　The central vision of Paul's completing ministry is God in us as our contents, Christ as the mystery of God, and the church as the mystery of Christ—Rom. 9:23-24; 2 Cor. 4:7; Col. 2:2; Eph. 3:4.

d.　The center of the Lord's recovery is Christ and the church: Christ as the embodiment of God—the mystery of God—and the church as the expression of Christ—the mystery of Christ—Col. 2:9; Eph. 3:19b; 1 Tim. 3:15-16.

e.　The Lord wants a church composed of believers who are infused, filled, and saturated with Himself to be His Body for His expression; eventually, this living Body will become Christ's loving bride, who will prepare the way for His coming back—Eph. 1:22-23; Rev. 19:7-9.

f.　We should not care for insignificant things or be distracted by doctrines or practices; instead, we should care to become a living testimony by having the Triune God dispensed into us to make us members of His organic Body to express Him—Eph. 3:6, 19b, 21.

2.　We need to see a vision of the central matter in the Lord's recovery today—Prov. 29:18a:

a.　God wants us to realize that in Christ the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—has passed through a process involving incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension: (1) By incarnation Christ brought the infinite God into the finite man—John 1:14. (2) In His human living the Lord Jesus expressed divinity in humanity—14:9-11. (3) By crucifixion Jesus Christ terminated the old creation—Col. 1:15. (4) By resurrection He germinated us as the new creation—1 Pet. 1:3. (5) By ascension He was glorified, exalted, enthroned, appointed Lord, and commissioned with the divine government—Acts 2:33, 36. (6) Following this He came down upon the church as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit—1:8; 2:4.

b.　As the life-giving Spirit, the Lord is waiting for people to receive Him by believing into Him—1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17; John 1:12-13; 3:15: (1) As soon as a person calls on the name of the Lord Jesus, Christ will immediately come into him, regenerate his spirit, indwell his spirit, and mingle Himself with his regenerated spirit to cause him to become truly one with Him—v. 6; 1 Cor. 6:17. (2) A new believer must come to know the two spirits—his regenerated spirit and the life-giving Spirit—that he may be transformed and built up with others to be the Body, the organism to express the Triune God for the fulfillment of His purpose—2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 2:21-22; 4:16.

D.　"What a mercy that we can see this vision! What a grace and what a wonder that we may be brought into the realization of this vision! We are burdened that all the saints in the Lord's recovery will see the same vision and then speak the same thing, having the same mind with the same opinion" (Life-study of First Corinthians, p. 185)—1 Cor. 1:10; Rom. 15:5-6; Phil. 2:2, 5; 3:15.