THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
The Overcomers
Message Five—The Success of the Overcomers
Scripture Reading: Rev. 3:1-2; Col. 1:28; Psa. 126:5; Rev. 12:11; 1 John 1:9; Matt. 28:19; Eph. 5:16; 4:12
I. The overcomers are the successful people in God’s economy, and we want to see what their success is—cf. Rev. 3:1-2; Col. 1:28; Psa. 126:5; Rev. 12:11: (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
A. To be vital—Living versus the deadness of Sardis and active versus the lukewarmness of Laodicea—cf. Rev. 3:1-2. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
B. A proper Christian should be vital; to be vital means to be living and active; since I am a man, I must believe into Christ; if I am a Christian, I must be in the recovery; if I am in the recovery, I must be vital—Col. 1:28; Psa. 126:5; Rev. 12:11: (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
1. First, we must be vital in saving sinners that they may become the members of Christ—Col. 1:28: (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
a. If you are overcoming, you must firstly overcome your barrenness; at least you should bear one or two new ones as fruit yearly—John 15:16. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
b. Even if you do not gain someone within one year, you will eventually gain someone through your consistent and faithful labor to contact people; the extent of your labor determines the extent of your result—Psa. 126:5. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
2. Once we contact sinners and make them the members of Christ, they become young babes in Christ; we have to feed these newborn believers in Christ—1 Thes. 2:7. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
3. Our feeding the babes will cause them to grow; then they will become the saints who need the perfecting—1 Pet. 2:2; Eph. 4:12. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
4. Eventually, we have to help these perfected saints learn how to prophesy—1 Cor. 14:1, 4b: (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
a. Prophesying in the church meetings builds up the churches for the building up of the Body of Christ. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
b. The more speakers there are in the church meetings, the better it is; this kind of speaking edifies the saints locally and builds up the Body of Christ universally. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
C. To overcome is not just to overcome all the obstacles and frustrations to carry out the practices of the God-ordained way; we still need to overcome the degradation of today’s church—Rev. 12:11: (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
1. Today the Lord has moved through the Adamic race, through the Abrahamic race, and through the church; eventually they failed the Lord, but He would not give up. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
2. In the book of Revelation, He calls for the overcomers to carry out His move on the earth for the accomplishment of His eternal economy; the Bible reveals that the overcomers are a success for the Lord—v. 11; 14:1, 4; 15:2: (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
a. First, in Revelation 12 there are the dead overcomers signified by the man-child born of the universal bright woman; all of those in that corporate man-child overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and by not loving their soul-life unto death—v. 11. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
b. Second, there are the living overcomers, the 144,000 raptured to the third heaven to stand with the Lord on Mount Zion; they follow Christ wherever He goes; they are the overcomers living up to the time before the tribulation—14:1, 4. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
c. Besides these two groups of overcomers, there is another group who will overcome Antichrist, his idol, and the idolatrous number of his name; these overcomers all will be martyred, but they will overcome Antichrist—15:2. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
d. The book of Revelation shows that the Lord has a way to accomplish His economy through His overcomers. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
3. Being in the local churches makes it easier for us to be overcomers, but this does not mean that as long as we are in the local churches, we are the overcomers; we should not remain there in a routine way; we have to be vital: (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
a. First, we must have a time to contact the Lord; then we will be enlightened by Him to see all our defects, mistakes, wrongdoings, shortcomings, trespasses, and transgressions; we should make a thorough confession to the Lord to have a thorough forgiveness and a thorough clearance of all these negative things before Him—1 John 1:9. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
b. Then you should ask the Lord to give you a companion with whom you can labor in the gospel; you should not say that you do not have the time; you have to redeem and budget your time; you should reserve two hours every week for contacting sinners by many ways; then you can get some saved and baptized to be your spiritual babes; you have to feed them, perfect them, and build them up to prophesy—Matt. 28:19; Eph. 5:16; 4:12. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
c. You must pay the price to take the biblical way, the God-ordained way in the New Testament, not depending on the elders or co-workers but on yourself—2 Cor. 12:15. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
d. Then you will be a vital person in your local church to produce and build up a vital group; the Lord will then gain some overcomers in your locality, and there will be a way for the Lord to accomplish His eternal economy. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
4. God will reward the overcomers with the full enjoyment of Christ in the kingdom—Matt. 25: (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
a. The full enjoyment of Christ includes being Christ’s co-kings in His glory—2 Tim. 2:12a; Rev. 20:4, 6. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
b. The glory of Christ and the joy of Christ are the two main items of God’s reward to the overcoming saints; the reigning is in His glory and the joy is in His kingdom—Matth 25:21, 23. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
c. Another aspect of the reward for the overcomers is the salvation of the soul; if you have overcome, the Lord will save you from losing Christ in the age of righteousness: (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
(1) The overcomers will be saved from being cast out into outer darkness in the age of discipline—Matt. 25:30. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
(2) To be saved from being cut off from the full enjoyment of Christ in His glory. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)
II. “God’s move on the earth through the overcomers is to consummate, to complete, the building of the New Jerusalem for the fulfillment of God’s desire. Today we are in the age of the overcomers. In the church life, we must be vital to overcome everything of today’s degradation among the Christians.” (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Introductory Word)