I.　When all the members of the Body of Christ speak for God, the word of God grows, multiplies, and prevails—Acts 6:7; 12:24; 19:20:

A.　Following the death of Stephen, those who were scattered because of the persecution against the church "went throughout the land announcing the word"— 8:4:

1.　What we need today is for all the saints to speak the word of God; if we all speak, the word of God will grow, multiply, and prevail—6:7; 12:24; 19:20.

2.　Eventually, our speaking the word of God will cause the Lord Jesus, the Word of God, to come and fight for His kingdom—Rev. 19:11, 13, 16.

B.　Satan wants to prevent the believers from speaking for God—Acts 5:28, 40.

C.　The word grew in Acts 6:7 refers to the growth in life:

1.　The word of God is a matter of life that grows as a seed sown into man's heart—Mark 4:14.

2.　God's word is the seed of life; because this seed is living, once it is planted, it grows, increases, and spreads—1 Pet. 1:23-25.

3.　The word of God is actually the Lord Himself because the word is the container of the Lord; thus, for the word of God to grow actually means that the Lord grows—Mark 4:26-29; Col. 2:19; Eph. 3:17; 4:13, 15-16.

D.　In Acts the word of God not only grew but also multiplied—12:24:

1.　The word does not grow and multiply in itself but grows with the believers and multiplies with the churches—6:7; 9:31:

a.　When the believers grow, the word within them grows—Col. 3:16.

b.　When the churches multiply, the word multiplies within the churches.

2.　The fact that the word of God grew and multiplied indicates that the believers and the churches were filled with the word and were one with the word; this is a strong sign of the Lord's victory over the evil one—v. 16.

E.　In order for the word of God to grow, multiply, and prevail, we need to enjoy the word of God's grace; we should receive the word of grace in such a way that we become God's word, that is, God's speaking—Acts 14:3; 20:32.

F.　If the word of God is to grow, multiply, and prevail, we need to pray that God would open a door for the word, that the word of God would run and be glorified, and that we all would speak the word of God with boldness—Col. 4:3; 2 Thes. 3:1; Acts 4:29, 31.

II.　We need to be experienced in the word of righteousness—Heb. 5:13-14:

A.　The word of righteousness is solid food; to eat the word of righteousness is a strong way to receive, experience, and enjoy Christ—vv. 13-14.

B.　The word of righteousness speaks of the present Christ, who is now in the heavens as our Minister and our High Priest, ministering to us the heavenly life, grace, authority, and power and sustaining us to live a heavenly life on earth—4:14-15; 7:26; 8:2:

1.　In order to be brought on to maturity, we need to be experienced in the word of righteousness—6:1; 5:13-14.

2.　If we are exercised in the word of righteousness concerning the heavenly ministry of Christ, we will reach maturity and receive a reward; otherwise, we will suffer dispensational punishment—4:11; 6:8; 10:35; 12:25, 28-29.

C.　The word of righteousness embodies the thought of God's justice and righteousness in His dispensational and governmental dealings with His people— 5:13:

1.　Righteousness is being right with persons, matters, and things according to God's righteous requirements—Matt. 5:20.

2.　Righteousness is a matter of God's kingdom, for it is related to God's government, administration, and rule—6:33; Psa. 89:14; Isa. 32:1.

3.　Righteousness is a matter of being right with God in our being—1 Cor. 15:34:

a.　To be right with God in our being is to have an inner being that is transparent and crystal clear—an inner being in the mind and will of God—Col. 1:9; 3:1-2.

b.　To be righteous in this way is to become the righteousness of God in Christ—2 Cor. 5:21.

D.　We need to be experienced in the word of righteousness so that we may have the words we need to speak for God, even being a herald of righteousness, as Noah was—Heb. 5:11-14; 2 Pet. 2:5.

III.　In the church life today, there is the need for the speaking of Godconstituted persons—those who have the maturity in life to prophesy with blessing, as Jacob did—Gen. 49:1-28; 2 Cor. 13:3; 1 Cor. 7:25, 40:

A.　The strongest sign of Jacob's maturity was his blessing others—Gen. 47:7, 10:

1.　The fullness of life is blessing, which is the overflow of God as life into others—48:14-16; Heb. 7:7; John 7:38; 1 John 5:16.

2.　Jacob's prophesying with blessing in Genesis 49 is a manifestation of maturity, for our speaking always reveals where we are and how mature we are; the change in Jacob's speaking reveals his growth unto maturity— 1 Cor. 3:1-4; Gen. 25:31; 27:19; 47:7.

3.　Eventually, Jacob became a God-constituted person; because he had been infused, saturated, and thoroughly permeated with God, his word was God's word, and his speaking was God's speaking—49:1-28.

B.　If we have been constituted with God, we will be able to prophesy with blessing, overflowing God as life into others—Heb. 6:1; Eph. 4:13.

C.　When a God-constituted person ministers the word of God in spirit, apparently it is he who is speaking, but actually it is Christ, the Son of God, speaking; this minister of the word is nothing, but out of his lips comes something from the One who is everything—2 Cor. 11:10; 13:3; 1 Cor. 7:17-25, 40; Eph. 3:8.

D.　What the churches need today is the speaking of such God-constituted persons— 2 Cor. 13:3.