1998春季长老
总题:主恢复中神圣启示的构成与推广
Message Six The Propagation of the Divine Revelation in the Lord's Recovery
I. God desires all the saved ones to come to the full knowledge of the truth—1 Tim. 2:4.
II. The gospel of the kingdom will be preached to the whole earth for a testimony to all the nations before the end of this age—Matt. 24:14:
A. The gospel of the kingdom, which includes the gospel of grace (Acts 20:24), brings people not only into God's salvation but also into the kingdom of the heavens (Rev. 1:9):
1. The gospel of grace emphasizes forgiveness of sin, God's redemption, and eternal life.
2. The gospel of the kingdom emphasizes the heavenly ruling of God and the authority of the Lord.
B. The gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole earth for a testimony to all the nations, the Gentiles.
C. This testimony must spread the whole earth before the end of this age, the time of the great tribulation.
D. The gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole in habited earth to gain people of every tribe, every tongue, every people, ane every nation—Rev. 5:9-10.
E. "I believe tht the churches in the Lord's recovery will bear the burden to bring this gospel to the inhabited earth….The gospel of the kingdom is the higher gospel. The higher gospel will be brought to every continent through the churches in the Lord's recovery" (Witness Lee, Life-study of Matthew, p. 719).
III. Acts 8:4 speaks of the preaching of the gospel through the scattering, the migrating, of the saints:
A. Through the migration of the saints, the good news was brought to many cities.
B. The churches need to follow the pattern in Acts 8:4.
C. In principle, we should be willing to migrate, and the saints in all the churches should be encouraged to migrate.
IV. "The word of God grew and multiplied"—Acts 12:24:
A. Because the word is the container of the Lord, the word of God is actually the Lord Himself; therefore, for the word of God to grow actually means that the Lord grew.
B. The word grows with the believers and multiplies with the church.
C. The fact that the word of God grew and multiplied indicates that the believers and the churches were filled with the word and one with the word.
V. We need to pick up the burden for the spread of the Lord's recovery—2 Tim. 2:2, 15:
A. We need to show all people and especially to the Christian community that we are a group of believers who are full of the knowledge of the divine truths; this will be a strong testimony.
B. We need to give the Lord a way to have a recovery full of life and full of the knowledge of the truth so that we can be those who preach the gospel, teach the truth, and minister life.
C. "I am deeply burdened by the fact that many who love the Lord Jesus and seek Him have been deceived and frustrated. We must find a way to share with them the spiritual riches the Lord has provided us. Many who truly love the Lord are starving. We must take up the burden to supply them with food. We all need to be good ministers of Christ, serving others with His riches. Let us first be nourished ourselves and then minister this nourishment to all the people of God" (Witness Lee, Life-study of 1 Timothy, p. 72).
D. "You…need to consider yourself, in particular where you are in relation to the carrying out of God's New Testament economy. What is on your heart? What have you seen as a heavenly vision regarding the divine economy? How will you carry out the vision you have seen? Let us all spend time before the Lord in order to be filled with the burden of God's New Testament economy" (Witness Lee, Life-study of Acts, pp. 588-589).
E. "Let us all be filled with the riches of God's New Testament economy and then carry out the burden for God's economy positively and aggressively. We all can become aggressive if we are filled and saturated. I hope that in the coming years there will be a great increase for the Lord's propagation. May there be a real stirring up throughout the earth!" (Witness Lee, Life-study of Acts, pp. 483).