THE FOURTH PART: THE PATHWAY OF THE LORD’S RECOVERY
God-ordained Way
Message Eighteen
The Recovery of Prophesying as the Excelling Gift
for the Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ
Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 14:1, 3-5, 12, 24-26, 31-32, 39; Num. 11:29; Amos 2:12b; Eph. 4:11-16
I. Prophesying is the excelling gift for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ; to prophesy in 1 Corinthians 14 is not in the sense of predicting, foretelling, but in the sense of speaking for the Lord and speaking forth the Lord to dispense Christ into people—vv. 1, 3-5, 12, 24-26, 31-32: (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
A. We must admit that prophesying does convey the thought of foretelling, predicting; most people, whether Christians or non-Christians, understand prophesying in this way; but we all have to see that prophesying in chapter 14 of 1 Corinthians is not used in this sense at all; the interpretation of prophesying as predicting does not fit in the context of this entire chapter—vv. 24-26. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “The Advance of the Lord’s Recovery Today”, ch. 6)
B. The book of Isaiah the prophet has sixty-six chapters, and most of these chapters are not predicting but are speaking for the Lord; of course, Isaiah’s prophesying also includes foretelling, but his prophesying in the book of Isaiah is mainly his speaking for the Lord and speaking forth the Lord—Isa. 1. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “The Advance of the Lord’s Recovery Today”, ch. 6)
C. The main denotation of the word prophesy both in Hebrew and in Greek is to speak for the Lord; when we speak for the Lord, even if we do not foretell, our speaking is the genuine prophesying; to prophesy is to speak God into people—1 Cor. 14:3-4. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “The Advance of the Lord’s Recovery Today”, ch. 6)
II. Moses desired that all of God’s people would be prophets for prophesying; the apostle Paul taught that we all can prophesy, and he charged us to pursue, to desire earnestly, and to seek to prophesy—Num. 11:29; 1 Cor. 14:1, 12, 31, 39; cf. 1 Thes. 5:20: (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
A. God desires that each of the believers prophesy, that is, speak for and speak forth Him—Num. 11:29b; 1 Cor. 14:31. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 2, “The Practice of the Church Life According to the God-Ordained Way”, msg. 4)
B. Paul charges us not to despise prophesying; those who have rejected the Lord’s ministry, the Lord’s speaking, today are despising prophesying—1 Thes. 5:20; 1 Cor. 14:4. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 2, “The Practice of the Church Life According to the God-Ordained Way”, msg. 4)
C. To prohibit prophesying is a sin before God—Amos 2:12b; 7:12-13; Jer. 11:21. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 2, “The Practice of the Church Life According to the God-Ordained Way”, msg. 4)
III. Among the three functions of the prophet, the priest, and the king, the function of the prophet is the highest, because the prophets can receive and secure the word of God directly—1 Sam. 3:20; James 5:10: (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
A. In the Old Testament the prophets could reprove, instruct, and teach the kings, and they could also teach the priests; in the New Testament all the believers are regenerated to be priests and kings, but to be a prophet depends upon our seeking, our desiring earnestly—2 Sam. 12:1-14; Hag. 2:10-19; Mal. 1:6-2:9; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6; 1 Cor. 14:1, 12, 39. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
B. All the believers have the capacity and the obligation to prophesy (vv. 31, 24); the Spirit is always ready to speak and expects to speak with us and through us, so we must cooperate with the speaking Spirit of God by standing against our natural man with its disposition and habit—vv. 31, 24; 2 Sam. 23:2; Acts 6:10; 2 Tim. 4:2(2007 MDC, msg. 4)
C. Prophesying makes us overcomers; prophesying is the function of the overcomers— Rev. 1:20; 2:1, 7. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
IV. According to the New Testament there are three kinds of prophets—Eph. 4:11-12; Acts 21:8-9; 1 Cor. 14:1, 31: (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
A. The prophets in Ephesians 4:11-12 are those particularly ordained by God for the perfecting of the saints. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
B. The prophets in Acts 21:8-9 are those who can predict for God. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
C. The prophets in 1 Corinthians 14 are those who speak for God and speak forth God in the meetings of the church for the church’s building up; all the believers can be this kind of prophet—vv. 1, 5, 31. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
V. The proper church meeting for the building up of the church described in 1 Corinthians 14:26 is a meeting of mutuality in which “each one has,” a meeting in which we “can all prophesy one by one”, a meeting in which “he who prophesies builds up the church”; the fulfillment of this word in the Lord’s present recovery is eternally significant—vv. 3, 14: (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
A. First Corinthians 14:26 as a part of the holy Word needs to be fulfilled for the Body of Christ to be built up; without this organic building, the Lord’s prophecy in Matthew 16:18 cannot be fulfilled, and the church as the bride cannot be made ready for Christ as the Bridegroom. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
B. To meet according to 1 Corinthians 14:26, we must desire and learn to prophesy and live a prophesying life by being revived every morning and by living an overcoming life every day—vv. 1, 12, 31; Prov. 4:18; Lam. 3:22-24; Psa. 119:147-148; Rev. 2:7; 21:7; 1 John 1:6-7. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
VI. We must live a prophesying life with the following qualifications: (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
A. We must “bring out the precious from the worthless”—Jer. 15:19; 2 Tim. 2:20. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
B. We must love the Lord, be close to Him, and be one with Him—1:8-9; Psa. 73:28a; 1 Cor. 2:9, 15; 14:31-32. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
C. We must have an intimacy with God; our relationship with God must be personal, affectionate, private, and spiritual—Psa. 25:14; S. S. 1:1-4. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
D. We must be those who bring every problem into the presence of God, contacting God to receive the word from God—Psa. 73:3, 17. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
E. We must pray for the ministry of the word—Acts 6:4; 2:42. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
F. We must be ones who are always rejoicing, unceasingly praying, giving thanks in everything, not quenching the Spirit, and not despising prophecies—1 Thes. 5:16-20. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
G. We must let the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to God—Col. 3:16; 1 John 2:14. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
H. We must be filled with the knowledge of God’s word to acquire an adequate divine vocabulary—Luke 1:46-55; Acts 5:20. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
I. We must be filled with the consummated Spirit essentially and economically— Matt. 5:12; Acts 13:52; 4:8, 31; 13:9; 2:38; 5:32b. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
VII. We must see the composition of a proper prophecy according to the way of 1 Corinthians 14—vv. 3, 14, 26: (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
A. The composition of a prophecy comprises the knowledge and experience of God, Christ, and spiritual things and the utterance to speak these forth—Luke 1:67-69. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
B. The composition of a prophecy comprises the sight under the divine enlightenment concerning the situation and environment in which we are—vv. 67-69. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
C. The composition of a prophecy comprises the instant inspiration of the Spirit that stirs up our spirit to speak—Acts 5:20-21. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
D. In speaking forth a proper prophecy, we should not adhere to personal experiences, testimonies, feelings, thoughts, opinions, affections, and reactions to any persons, matters, and things—2 Cor. 4:5; 1 Cor. 1:23. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
VIII. The direct building up of the organic Body of Christ is by the Body itself, that is, by all the members of Christ each functioning in his own measure, mainly in prophesying—speaking for the Lord—Eph. 4:16; 1 Cor. 14:4b, 12, 31; Heb. 10:25: (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
A. Today the Lord demands that we have the recovery of the meeting in mutuality, as unveiled in 1 Corinthians 14:26, by practicing Ephesians 4:11-16; we must have the perfecting of the saints by the gifts so that the saints may participate in the work of the unique ministry of the New Testament—the work of the building up of the Body of Christ. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
B. The practice of Ephesians 4:11-16 is for the building up of the Body of Christ by the Body itself in the increase of the Body’s growth in the divine life. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
C. This is accomplished by the wide spreading of the gospel of Christ by visiting people for the producing of the new believers, by home meetings to nourish the new believers, by group meetings to take care of the saints and teach them the truth for their edification, and by church meetings to exhibit and minister Christ to the saints for the building up of the Body of Christ by the developing and exercising of the saints’ organic functions—Eph. 4:11-16. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)
IX. Those of us who have seen this vision will be burdened to sacrifice ourselves as martyrs so that the Lord can have a way to fulfill Ephesians 4:11-16 for the purpose of having the building up of His organic Body through each saint being perfected to prophesy, to speak Christ, so that there will be meetings all over the earth that are full of mutuality according to 1 Corinthians 14:26. (2007 MDC, msg. 4)