THE FORTH PART: THE PATHWAY OF THE LORD’S RECOVERY
God-Ordained Way
Message Twelve—Practicing the Priesthood of the Gospel in the Vital Groups
Scripture Reading: Rom. 15:16; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 2:6; Heb. 10:24-25; Acts 1:14; 1 Cor. 14:31
I. For the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose, we must practice the priesthood of the gospel—Eph. 3:8-11; Rom. 15:16: (2010 MDC, msg. 6)
A. God’s eternal purpose is His eternal economy, His administrative plan, to distribute Himself into His chosen people to make them the same as He is in life and nature but not in the Godhead for His enlarged and expanded expression—Eph. 3:2, 8-11. (2001 WT, msg. 5)
B. “That I might be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, a laboring priest of the gospel of God, in order that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, having been sanctified in the Holy Spirit”—Rom. 15:16:
1. Paul’s being a priest of the gospel of God to minister Christ to the Gentiles was a priestly service to God, and the Gentiles whom he gained through his gospel preaching were an offering presented to God. (2010 MDC, msg. 6)
2. By this priestly service many Gentiles, who were unclean and defiled, were sanctified in the Holy Spirit and became such an offering, acceptable to God; they were set apart from things common and were saturated with God’s nature and element, and were thus sanctified both positionally and dispositionally. (2010 MDC, msg. 6)
3. Such a sanctification is in the Holy Spirit; this means that, based on Christ’s redemption, the Holy Spirit renews, transforms, and separates unto holiness those who have been regenerated by believing into Christ. (2010 MDC, msg. 6)
C. “You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ”—1 Pet. 2:5:
1. The holy and royal priesthood (v. 9) as the coordinated body of priests is the built-up spiritual house; God wants a spiritual house for His dwelling, a priestly body, a priesthood, for His service. (2010 MDC, msg. 6)
2. The spiritual sacrifices that the believers offer in the New Testament age are: (1) Christ as the reality of all the sacrifices of the Old Testament types, such as the burnt offering, meal offering, peace offering, sin offering, and trespass offering (Lev. 1-5); (2) the sinners saved by our gospel preaching, offered as members of Christ (Rom. 15:16); and (3) our body, our praises, and the things that we do for God (12:1; Heb. 13:15-16; Phil. 4:18). (2010 MDC, msg. 6)
D. The New Testament service ordained by God is that all believers are priests to serve God with the offerings that He desires—Rev. 1:5-6; 5:9-10; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9: (2009 WT, msg. 12)
1. As priests of the gospel of God, we offer saved sinners, as parts of the enlarged and corporate Christ, to God as sacrifices—Rom. 15:16. (2009 WT, msg. 12)
2. The offering of the believers to God is in three steps: (2009 WT, msg. 12)
a. Those who preach the gospel offer the newly saved ones to God as spiritual sacrifices—v. 16; 1 Pet. 2:5. (2009 WT, msg. 12)
b. After the new believers grow and begin to understand what it is to be a believer in Christ, they are encouraged to offer themselves to God as a living sacrifice—Rom. 12:1. (2009 WT, msg. 12)
c. As the believers continue to grow unto maturity, those who labor on the believers present them full-grown in Christ—Col. 1:28. (2009 WT, msg. 12)
II. For the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose, we must build up the vital groups—Heb. 10:24-25: (2010 MDC, msg. 6)
A. We must have an intimate and thorough fellowship in Christ as the element and sphere, by exercising our spirit with much and thorough prayer, concerning our status, spiritual condition, and present situation in and with the Lord. (2010 MDC, msg. 6)
B. We must be blended by much and thorough prayer, as fine flour of the wheat, with all the members of our group, with the Spirit as the oil, through the death of Christ as the salt, and in the resurrection of Christ as the frankincense, into a dough for the Lord—1 Cor. 5:6-7a; 10:17; 12:24; Lev. 2:1-13. (2010 MDC, msg. 6)
C. We must keep the oneness of the Spirit, the oneness of the Body, in the one accord according to the Lord’s desire with much and thorough prayer—Eph. 4:3; Acts 1:14; 4:24. (2010 MDC, msg. 6)
D. We must make, with much and thorough prayer, a corporate Nazarite’s consecration for the Lord—Num. 6:1-4. (2010 MDC, msg. 6)
E. We must be overcomers in this age with much and thorough prayer; this is according to the Lord’s calling in His last words to the saints in the churches to replace the degraded church—Rev. 2—3. (2010 MDC, msg. 6)
III. We must bring the churches into the God-ordained way of practicing the church life with all the saints functioning as priests of the gospel of God—Rom. 15:16; Rev. 1:5-6: (2008 ITERO-F, msg. 5)
A. We must be built up into God’s holy priesthood—the New Testament priesthood of the gospel—1 Pet. 2:5; Rom. 15:16. (2008 ITERO-F, msg. 5)
B. We must be functioning as priests of the gospel of God—saving sinners to offer them up to God as acceptable sacrifices (Rom. 15:16); bringing the believers up to lead them to present themselves to God as living sacrifices (12:1); warning and teaching every saint in all wisdom to present each one full-grown in Christ (Col. 1:28-29). (The Advance of the Lord’s Recovery Today, ch. 2)
C. We must fulfill the requirements for the ministry of the priests of the gospel: (2008 ITERO-F, msg. 5)
1. By being revived every morning—Psa. 119:147-148; Prov. 4:18. (2008 ITERO-F, msg. 5)
2. By overcoming every day—Rom. 8:37; 2 Cor. 4:16. (2008 ITERO-F, msg. 5)
3. By being filled with and living in the Spirit every moment—Eph. 5:18; Gal. 5:25. (2008 ITERO-F, msg. 5)
4. By walking according to the spirit in everything—Rom. 8:4: (2008 ITERO-F, msg. 5)
a. Without murmurings and reasonings—Phil. 2:14. (2008 ITERO-F, msg. 5)
b. Without selfish intentions and greedy ambitions—Gal. 5:26. (2008 ITERO-F, msg. 5)
5. By being in one accord and in harmony with all the saints—1 Cor. 1:10. (2008 ITERO-F, msg. 5)
6. By not being blown by the winds of teaching—Eph. 4:14. (2008 ITERO-F, msg. 5)
7. By not teaching anything different from the truth concerning the New Testament priesthood of the gospel of God—1 Tim. 1:3-4. (2008 ITERO-F, msg. 5)
8. By watching prayerfully, laboring diligently, and struggling earnestly to carry out each step of the duties of the New Testament priests of the gospel of God—Matt. 26:41; Rom. 12:11; Col. 1:29; 1 Cor. 15:58. (2008 ITERO-F, msg. 5)
9. By awaiting the Lord’s coming through living and working in the light of His judgment seat—Phil. 3:20; 2 Cor. 5:10. (2008 ITERO-F, msg. 5)