I.　The speaking God, the Word of God, created us in His image to be a speaking people—Gen. 1:26; John 1:1; Heb. 1:1-2a; Acts 8:4; 1 Cor. 14:31.

II.　"My heart overflows with a good matter; / I speak what I have composed concerning the King. / My tongue is the pen of a ready writer"—Psa. 45:1:

A.　If we have an affectionate love for the Lord Jesus, our tongue will be the pen of a ready writer, ready to write our love and our praise.

B.　Our heart should overflow to speak the full ministry of Christ in the stages of His incarnation, inclusion, and intensification as the content of God's eternal economy—John 1:14; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Rev. 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6.

III.　Matthew 16:18 says, "I will build My church," and 1 Corinthians 14:4b says, "He who prophesies builds up the church":

A.　To prophesy is to speak for the Lord and to speak forth the Lord, that is, to dispense Christ into people—vv. 3, 12, 31.

B.　God's desire is for all of His people to be prophets—Num. 11:29; 1 Cor. 14:31.

C.　Christ first builds the church by dispensing Himself into us as the regenerating word of God through those who prophesy by speaking Him forth as the good news of the gospel—1 Pet. 1:23; Rom. 10:14-17.

D.　Christ continues to build the church by overflowing from within us in the church meetings to speak forth Christ into one another—to prophesy—for the increase of Christ within us so that we may grow with the growth of God for God's building— John 7:37-39; Col. 2:19.

IV.　We must live a proper, normal Christian life—a prophesying life—so that we may be the proper speaking ones in the church meetings—1 Pet. 4:11:

A.　We must love the Lord—John 21:15-17:

1.　The more we love the Lord, the more we are qualified, equipped, and perfected to speak for Him.

2.　Our love for the Lord is the factor, the element, and the very basic essence of our being powerful in speaking forth the Lord.

3.　If we love the Lord, we will surely be filled with Him, and we will surely have something of Him to pour out, to release the One who has filled us within.

B.　We must be revived by the Lord—Rev. 3:1-2, 15-17:

1.　Once we are revived, we will have a desire to go fishing for men and to go to the homes where the fish are—Matt. 4:19.

2.　To have a local church in the Lord's recovery that is living and prevailing with everyone speaking, we all need to be revived day by day—2 Cor. 4:16.

C.　We must live a victorious life, an overcoming life—Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21.

D.　We must abide in the fellowship with the Lord daily and hourly—1 John 1:3, 6; 2 Cor. 13:14.

E.　We must be a praying person—Col. 4:2; Rom. 10:12-13.

F.　We must enjoy the Lord every day early in the morning to have a new start of each day—Psa. 119:147-148.

G.　We must learn to walk by and according to our spirit mingled with the Spirit— Gal. 5:16; Rom. 8:4.

H.　We must live Christ for His magnification by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ—Phil. 1:19-21a; Gal. 2:20.

I.　We must speak Christ to all kinds of people daily in season and out of season— Acts 5:42; 8:4; 2 Tim. 4:2.

J.　We must deal with our sins thoroughly—1 John 1:5, 7, 9; Acts 24:16.

K.　We must be filled with the Spirit inwardly—13:52; Eph. 5:18.

L.　We must be filled with the Spirit outwardly—Acts 4:31, 8; 13:9.

M.　We must accumulate the experiences of Christ—Phil. 3:8-10, 12-14.

N.　We must keep a rich storage of the Lord's word—Col. 3:16; John 15:7; 1 John 2:14.

O.　We must know some of the hymns on Christ, the Spirit, the church, life, etc., in our hymnal—1 Cor. 14:26; Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16.

P.　We must desperately endeavor to build up a habit of speaking in any meeting— 1 Cor. 14:26, 4-5, 12, 31.

Q.　We must always have something to speak in all the meetings as a freewill offering to God and to the audience—v. 26 and footnote 1.

V.　We must be those who speak ten major categories of the word of God:

A.　The word of grace—Acts 20:32.

B.　The word of truth—Eph. 1:13.

C.　The word of the gospel—Acts 8:4.

D.　The word of life—1 John 1:1; Phil. 2:16; Acts 5:20.

E.　The healthy word—1 Tim. 6:3; 2 Tim. 1:13.

F.　The edifying word—Eph. 4:29.

G.　The good word—Heb. 6:5.

H.　The word of righteousness—5:13.

I.　The word of wisdom—1 Cor. 12:8.

J.　The word of knowledge—v. 8.

VI.　The two most important items of the manifestation of the Spirit in the believers are the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge:

A.　According to the context of 1 Corinthians, the word of wisdom is the word concerning Christ as the deeper things of God, predestined by God to be our portion—1:24, 30; 2:6-10.

B.　The word of knowledge is the word that imparts a general knowledge of things concerning God and the Lord—8:1-7.

C.　The word of wisdom is mainly out of our spirit through revelation, and the word of knowledge is mainly out of our understanding through teaching; the former is deeper than the latter.

D.　However, both of these, not speaking in tongues nor any other miraculous gift, are listed as the first gifts and the topmost manifestation of the Spirit because both are the most profitable ministries, or services, for the edification of the saints and the building up of the church to carry out God's operation.