THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
The Believers
Message Four—Believers’ Present Corporate Experience of
the Dispensing of the Divine Trinity
Scripture Reading: Matt. 6:33; John 3:3, 5; Rom. 14:17; Col. 3:15; Phil. 4:4; Deut. 12:5-8, 11-14; Matt. 18:17-35; 1 Pet. 2:25; Rom. 12:4-5
I. By entering into the kingdom of God as a realm of life, light, and love, living in the kingdom of God a life of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, the believers present experience the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity corporately—Matt. 6:33; Col. 1:12-13; Rom. 14:17: (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msgs. 39-40)
A. The kingdom of God is God Himself; God is life, having the nature, ability, and shape of the divine life, which forms the realm of God’s ruling—Mark 1:15; Matt. 6:33; John 3:3; Eph. 4:18; John 3:15. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 39)
B. The kingdom of God is not only the reign of God but also the realm of the divine life—Matt. 6:13b; John 3:3, 5, 15-16: (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 39)
1. The kingdom of God is the realm of the divine life for this life to move, to work, to rule, and to govern so that life may accomplish its purpose—v. 3. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 39)
2. The kingdom of God is God in Christ being the totality of life with all its activities—11:25; 10:10b; 14:6. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 39)
3. We should be diligent to pursue the growth and development of the divine life within us until we are richly and bountifully supplied the entrance into “the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”—2 Pet. 1:5-11. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 39)
C. The kingdom of God is the shining of the Lord Jesus over us—Mark 9:1-3. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 39)
D. The Father delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love—Col. 1:13: (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 39)
1. The kingdom into which we have been transferred is the kingdom of the Son of God’s love; this realm of life is in love, not in fear—Col. 1:13. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 39)
2. The kingdom in which we find ourselves today is a realm full of life, light, and love—1 Pet. 2:9. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 39)
3. The Son of the Father is the expression of the Father as the source of life—John 1:18, 4; 1 John 1:2. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 39)
E. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Spirit—Rom. 14:17: (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 40)
1. Righteousness denotes that which is right and proper; those who live in the kingdom of God should be right and proper toward others, toward things, and toward themselves; the most righteous persons are those who live Christ; the Christ who lives within us will make us right in every way—Matt. 5:6; 6:33; Phil. 1:21a; Gal. 2:20. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 40)
2. Our Father is the God of peace, having a peaceful life with a peaceful nature, the peace that is in Christ, the peace that is Christ, the peace that was made by Christ, and the peace announced by Christ as the gospel are the peace of the Body and in the Body—Rom. 15:33; 16:20; Eph. 2:14-15, 17; Col. 1:20; 3:15. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 40)
3. Living the kingdom life in the church requires that we live joyfully to God in the Holy Spirit—1 Pet. 1:8; Matt. 5:11-12; Acts 5:41; 13:52; Phil. 2:17-18: (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 40)
a. A sweet thought revealed in the Word of God is that in Christ God has given Himself to us as grace to be our enjoyment—John 1:14, 16-17; 2 Cor. 13:14. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 40)
b. Not being joyful indicates that we are defeated, that something is wrong with us, and that we have cast off the divine restraint; as a result, our spirit is weighed down, and we cannot rejoice—Phil. 4:4; 1 Thes. 5:16. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 40)
II. Enjoying the dispensing of the Divine Trinity corporately by experiencing and practicing the all-inclusive oneness on the ground of oneness—Deut. 12:5-8, 11-14, 17-18, 21, 26-27; 14:22-23; 16:16: (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 41)
A. The oneness in the Bible is an all-inclusive oneness for the expression of God; the oneness of the Triune God, which is the oneness of the Body of Christ, includes all that Christ is to us in and for God’s economy; the practice of this oneness, the one accord, is the master key to every blessing in the New Testament—Psa. 133; Eph. 4:1-6, 13; Acts 1:14; 1 Cor. 1:9-10; Phil. 1:27; 2:2. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 41)
B. Deuteronomy 12 reveals the enjoyment of Christ with God at the unique place of God’s choice for the keeping of the all-inclusive oneness of God’s people—vv. 5-8, 11-14, 17-18, 21, 26. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 41)
C. In order to be today’s overcomers, we must enjoy Christ with God on the ground of oneness for the exhibition of Christ, the building of the church, and the preparation of Christ’s bride—Matt. 16:18; Rev. 19:7. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 41)
III. The believers experience the dispensing of the Divine Trinity corporately by living in the Body of Christ—1 Cor. 12:12-13, 20, 24-25, 27; Rom. 12:4-5: (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 43)
A. The will of God is to obtain a Body for Christ to be His fullness, His expression—Rom. 12:2, 4-5; Rev. 4:11; Eph. 1:5, 9. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 43)
B. In one Spirit we were all baptized into one organic entity, the Body of Christ, and we were all given to drink one Spirit; we are one Body in the organic union with Christ—1 Cor. 12:13; Rom. 12:4-5. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 43)
C. The one Body is the one church of God, manifested in many localities as many local churches; the building up of a local church is not only for its own building up locally but also for the building up of the entire Body universally—1:2; 12:27. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 43)
D. The Body of Christ is the corporate Christ, the Body-Christ; if we would live the Body life, a life in the reality of the Body of Christ, we need to live a grafted life in the divine dispensing—1 Cor. 12:12; Rom. 6:5; 8:6, 10-11; 11:17. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 43)
IV. The believers experience the dispensing of the Divine Trinity corporately by putting on the New Man—Eph. 2:15; 4:20-24; Col. 3:10-11: (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 44)
A. The church, the Body of Christ, is the one new man created in Christ to accomplish God’s eternal purpose—Eph. 2:15; 4:23-24; 1:9, 11; 3:9; Rom. 8:29. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 44)
B. The one new man is a corporate, universal man—a corporate God-man, the aggregate of all the God-men—Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10-11. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 44)
C. The believers put on the new man by the renewing in the spirit of their mind—v. 23; Rom. 12:2: (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 44)
1. The way to put on the new man is for our spirit, which is mingled with the Spirit, to become the spirit of our mind—Eph. 4:23. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 44)
2. For the spirit to become the spirit of our mind means that the spirit directs, controls, dominates, and possesses our mind; when the spirit directs our mind, it directs our whole being. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 44)
3. How much in experience we put on the new man depends on how much our spirit directs our being; day by day we need to put on the new man by permitting the mingled spirit to control our being and renew our mind—v. 24. (FTTA-2007 to 2008 Spring, msg. 44)