I.　The believers as the ministers of Christ being God's fellow workers for God's cultivated land, God's building—1 Cor. 3:9; 2?Cor. 1:24:

A.　Working together with God on His cultivated land to grow Christ:

1.　The believers being God's cultivated land, a farm in God's new creation to grow Christ.

2.　Planting by imparting the substance of life into those who are spiritually dead to make them living plants and by putting them into the proper soil, Christ in the church life—1 Cor. 3:6; 4:15.

3.　Watering others by ministering the life supply with the words of life for their growth in life—1 Cor. 3:2, 6; John 6:63; Acts 5:20.

4.　Only God causing the growth—1 Cor. 3:6b-7.

5.　Christ growing in the believers to produce the precious materials of gold, silver, and precious stones for the building of God's habitation on earth—1 Cor. 3:12; Eph. 3:16-17.

B.　Building the church to consummate the New Jerusalem with transformed materials, not with natural things—1 Cor. 3:12; Rev. 21:18-21:

1.　Taking heed to build with the various experiences of Christ in the virtues and attributes of the Triune God:

a.　Gold signifying the divine nature of the Father with all its attributes.

b.　Silver signifying the redeeming Christ with all the virtues and attributes of His person and work.

c.　Precious stones signifying the transforming work of the Spirit with all its attributes.

2.　Taking heed not to mar, defile, ruin, or corrupt the temple of God with natural things, which are fit only to be burned—1?Cor. 3:12-17:

a.　Wood, in contrast to gold, signifying the nature of the natural man.

b.　Grass, in contrast with silver, signifying the fallen man, the man of the flesh (1 Pet. 1:24), who has not been redeemed or regenerated by Christ.

c.　Stubble, in contrast to precious stones, signifying the work and living that issue from an earthen source and have not been transformed by the Holy Spirit.

II.　Love being the most excellent way for God's fellow workers to live and do everything in the church for its organic building up—1 Cor. 8:1; 12:31:

A.　God is love; we love because He first loved us—1 John 4:8, 19.

B.　Love is not jealous, is not provoked, does not take account of evil, covers all things, endures all things, never falls away, and is the greatest—1 Cor. 13:4-8, 13.

III.　Prophesying being the excelling gift for God's fellow workers to organically build up the church by dispensing the riches of Christ into others—Matt. 16:18; 1 Cor. 14:4b, 12, 26, 31:

A.　Prophesying being to speak for the Lord, speak forth the Lord, and speak the Lord into others, ministering (dispensing) the Lord to others—1 Cor. 14:3-5.

B.　The constituting elements of prophesying:

1.　Gaining the proper knowledge concerning God and the things of God through the knowledge of the holy Word—the human element of learning.

2.　Having the instant inspiration of the Spirit—the divine element of inspiration.

3.　Having a clear vision concerning God's interest and economy, concerning the church as the Body of Christ, concerning the local churches, concerning the world, concerning the individual saints, and even concerning ourselves—the view through the enlightening of the divine light.

4.　Prophesying by speaking what we see with the living words of this life under the inspiration of the Spirit and with His enlightenment—Acts 5:20; 6:4.

C.　Living a prophesying life:

1.　Being revived every morning—Prov. 4:18; Lam. 3:22-24; Psa. 119:147-148.

2.　Living an overcoming life every day:

a.　Loving the Lord in the closest and most intimate fellowship with Him moment by moment—1 Cor. 2:9-10; 1 John 1:6; 2 Cor. 13:14.

b.　Walking according to the mingled spirit—Rom. 8:4.

c.　Accumulating the experiences of Christ—Phil. 3:8-10, 12-14.

d.　Keeping a rich storage of the Lord's word—Col. 3:16; John 15:7; 1 John 2:14.

e.　Speaking Christ to all kinds of people daily in season and out of season—Acts 5:42; 8:4; 2 Tim. 4:2.