2006国殇节
总题:在奋力活动的神当前并终极的行动中与祂合作并配合,以完成祂的经纶
Message Six Cooperating and Coordinating with Christ in His Heavenly Ministry to Be His Overcomers for His Up-to-date and Ultimate Move to Carry Out His Economy
Scripture Reading: Matt. 6:6, 19-20; 13:43; 16:18; 14:22-23; 24:14; 26:7; Rev. 8:3-6; 19:7-9
I. The fulfillment of the Lord's prophecy concerning the building up of His church, the preparation of His bride, will bring Him back; now is the time for the Lord to fulfill His prophecy through the overcomers, who cooperate and coordinate with Christ in His heavenly ministry for His up-to-date and ultimate move—Matt. 16:18; Rev. 19:7-9; Matt. 24:14.
II. To be the Lord's overcomers, we must love the Lord and grasp the opportunity to love Him—26:6-13:
A. To love the Lord with our best requires that we take time to behold Him, listen to His word, and receive a revelation concerning Him; the overcomers have the highest revelation of Christ and offer themselves willingly to the Lord in the splendor of their consecration—Psa. 110:3.
B. Mary sat at the Lord's feet and was listening to His word; having heard and received the Lord's word and revelation concerning His death, Mary looked for the opportunity to anoint Him before He died—Luke 10:38-42; Matt. 26:1-2, 12; cf. 16:21; 17:22-23; 20:18-19).
C. The Lord prefers His saved ones who love Him to listen to Him (Luke 10:39) that they may know His desire, rather than do things for Him without knowing His will—cf. 1 Sam. 15:22; Eccl. 5:1.
III. For God's ultimate move, we must be one with the interceding Christ, the praying Christ, by cooperating with Him in the two aspects of prayer: the prayer of fellowship with Him to be infused with Him and the prayer of interceding with Him to carry out His divine administration—Rev. 8:3-6:
A. Our prayer of fellowship with God causes us to be infused with God so that we can glow with God, shine forth God, and flow out God; we must learn from the Lord's pattern to be a man of prayer, to be with the Father, on the mountain, in prayer—Matt. 14:22-23:
1. The Lord compelled the disciples to leave Him in order that He might have more time to pray privately to the Father so that He might be one with the Father and have the Father with Him in whatever He did on earth for the establishing of the kingdom of the heavens—Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16; 6:12.
2. The Lord Jesus told us that when we pray, we should shut our door privately and pray secretly to the Father who sees in secret; then we have the sensation of how intimate He is to us and how close we are to Him; in this personal time we can come to Him to eat Him, drink Him, and enjoy Him—Matt. 6:6; John 6:57; Isa. 55:1-2; cf. 57:20 and footnote 1.
3. The highest profession on earth is to spend time being infused with God that we may shine forth God; the most prevailing need among Christians today is to spend a certain amount of time every day in the presence of the Lord to receive His word by means of all prayer—2 Cor. 3:16—4:1; Exo. 33:11a; Eph. 6:17-18.
4. We need to get to a higher level, on a "high mountain," separated from the crowd, to be with the Father privately and secretly to have intimate fellowship with Him; we can open our being fully to Him, and in the shining light of His presence, we can confess our sins, weaknesses, mistakes, hindrances, and difficulties to Him to receive His forgiveness and cleansing so that there is nothing between us and Him, and we are full of light to shine forth God—1 John 1:5, 7, 9; Luke 11:33-36.
B. Our prayer of intercession follows the foundation of our prayer of fellowship with God; we need to be one with the interceding Christ, typified by the incense altar in the tabernacle, as the center of the execution of God's government on earth—Exo. 30:1-10; Heb. 7:25; Rev. 8:3-6:
1. The prayer offered at the incense altar, a prayer that is offered in Christ and with Christ as the incense, governs God's dispensing of grace and motivates the execution of the divine administration; hence, this prayer governs the universe.
2. The proper intercession is not initiated by man but by God's revelation; thus, it expresses God's desire and carries out God's will—Gen. 18:17, 20-21; 19:27-29; Psa. 27:4-8; Heb. 4:16; 7:25; James 5:17.
3. Intercession is an intimate conversation with God according to the inward intention of His heart; for this we must learn to linger in the presence of God; Abraham's intercession for Lot did not terminate with Abraham's speaking but with God's, showing that genuine intercession is God's speaking in our speaking—Gen. 18:22-33; Rom. 8:26-27.
4. Intercessory prayer is not prayer for ourselves but prayer for the carrying out of the divine administration, for the dispensing of God's supplying grace, and for the churches and the saints; such a prayer is a fragrant incense to God—it fulfills His purpose, satisfies His desire, and delights His heart—Exo. 30:7; Rev. 8:3-4.
IV. For God's ultimate move, we must give our material possessions in secret for the sowing and spreading of Christ as the seed of life, the reality of the gospel of the kingdom, giving our material supply to the church of God, to the needy saints of God, to the full-time servants of God, and to the poor people in the love of God and with the kindness of God for the gospel of God—Luke 6:37-38; 1 Cor. 16:1-2; Matt. 6:1-4, 19-20; 19:21; Acts 11:29; Rom. 15:26; Phil. 1:5; 4:16-17; 3 John 5-8:
A. Those who have been benefited in the Lord and have been saved by our proper use of money as prudent stewards in our giving to the Lord for the furtherance of His kingdom gospel will welcome us into the eternal tabernacles in the coming age of the kingdom—Luke 16:1-13.
B. "We believers at least should give one-tenth of our income to the Lord in the principle of the Old Testament. Five percent of our income should be given to support full-time workers" (The Way to Practice the Lord's Present Move, p. 75)—cf. Neh. 13:10-14.
C. We must honor and fear God by bringing the whole tithe into the storehouse (Mal. 3:7-12; Deut. 14:22-23); although the word concerning the tithe was spoken to the Israelites in the Old Testament, in principle it applies also to the New Testament believers—Mal. 3:10; cf. Heb. 7:1-3; Matt. 23:23.
D. If we would be faithful to live for God's administration in caring for money and material matters, there would be no financial needs in the recovery—Luke 6:38; Acts 20:35; Matt. 6:1-4; cf. Life-study of Luke, pp. 315-316.
V. For God's ultimate move, we must preach the gospel of the kingdom of God to the whole inhabited earth, both to the unbelievers for their conversion to Christ and to the believers for their growth in Christ, by announcing the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel and by prophesying for the building up of the church as the house of God and the kingdom of God—Matt. 24:14; Rom. 1:1; Eph. 3:8; 1 Cor. 3:6; 14:4b, 31:
A. God's unique purpose in this age is to have the gospel preached that the church might be built up to consummate the New Jerusalem; the gospel of the kingdom emphasizes the heavenly ruling of God and the authority of the Lord—Eph. 3:8-11; Rom. 1:1; 1 Cor. 9:27; cf. Matt. 28:18-20.
B. The overcomers who preach the gospel of the kingdom become "the riders" of the white horse; their preaching of the gospel of the kingdom is the greatest sign of the end of this age—Rev. 6:1-2; 19:11, 13-14.
C. The recovery of the church as the house of God and the kingdom of God needs overcomers who are priests, kings, and prophets to bring in the kingdom age—1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6; 5:10; Rom. 5:17; 15:16; 1 Cor. 14:1, 31:
1. A priest contacts God and is saturated with God to minister God into people, a king lives under the headship of Christ to reign in the divine life over Satan, sin, and death, and a prophet is constituted with the living word of God to impart divine revelation and speak Christ into people.
2. When we live as priests to speak for God, to speak Christ into people, we are prophets, and our prophetic ministry brings us into the kingship to conquer all the destructive chaos and triumph in the unique constructive economy; "he who prophesies builds up the church"—v. 4b.
3. Among the functions of the priest, the king, and the prophet, the function of the prophet is the highest because all three of these functions depend upon God's word; prophesying makes you an overcomer and prophesying is the function of the overcomers—v. 4b; Rev. 1:20; 2:1, 7; cf. Mal. 3:1.
4. To prohibit prophesying is a sin before God—Amos 2:12b; 7:12-13, 16-17; Jer. 11:21-23; Num. 11:29b; 1 Cor. 14:31; 1 Thes. 5:20.
D. We need to see the vision of the broad highway, the rising sun, and the boundless future of the Lord's recovery, having great resolutions in heart and great searchings of heart to be those who love Christ and His church to the uttermost and for us to become His overcomers, shining like the sun when it rises in its might in the kingdom age—Judg. 5:15-16, 31; Prov. 4:18; Matt. 13:43.
E. "May the Lord inspire us concerning His move in His recovery! May He spread the church life throughout Europe, the Middle East, and to Jerusalem. Perhaps one day we shall hold a prayer meeting in the garden of Gethsemane, which is located at the foot of the Mount of Olives, and pray fervently to the Lord for His coming back! We all need to enjoy Christ and to experience Him as the church-loving Christ. Because we also love the church, we are one with Him for the spread of His recovery throughout the world and back to Jerusalem. Oh, how Christ loves the church! He is in us as the church-loving Christ. His love for the church makes us willing to give our all for the recovery of the church life" (Lifestudy of Ephesians, p. 666).